This master?s degree project concerns the combination of a multi dwelling passive house with solar energy for the generation of electricity and domestic hot water (DHW). Different alternatives with either solar thermal systems or photovoltaic (PV) systems are compared with two reference alternatives producing DHW from electricity or district heating. The economical comparison uses a life cycle cost (LCC) perspective based on the present value of expenditures for investment, energy and annual operating and maintenance.The energy yields from the solar energy systems were calculated by hand and with simulation software. Calculation and dimensioning of PV systems were carried out with a software called PVSYST.

The purpose of this thesis, was to study decision processes and the importance of information management in the processes within an academic organisation, which led to the work with adaptions according to the law of Equal Treatment of Students in Higher Education, (SFS 2001:1286). A general question was formulated concerning how different information- and knowledge flows interact within an academic organisation and its library during the decision processes. The questions at issue we have tried to examine, concern the factors that have influenced the participants´ choice of information during the decision processes, in their work of adapting the law of equal treatment, and how these choices have influenced the priorities that were made. The theoretical starting point was basically Cohen, March and Olsens Garbage Can Model. We also found the author Chun Wei Choo´s descriptions of organisations, as systems of information processing, useful for parts of our thesis, especially the parts that deals with the role of information management within the decision processes.

This report is focusing on problems with introducing standard enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) in businesses. A study has been carried out on a service and support department at a Swedish heat metering company, SVM North Node. The study aims to help the company become a better customer in choice and customization of a new ERP system. We make a description of the department studied and the work carried out there, on the basis of learning, knowledge and cooperation. As a final point we present some ideas on how computer systems could support their work, hoping that this will result in them making adequate demands on a new ERP system..

The purpose of this study is to create a method that can be used to produce decisionsupport data for the climate goals of a municipality. The method should be able to demonstrate the potential for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for measures aimed at the stationary energy system in the municipality. It will be used to make longterm projections of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in order to be able to demonstrate the ability to reach climate goals. The aim was also to test the method's applicability by using the municipality of Uppsala and the Uppsala climate protocol project in a case study. Uppsala climate protocol is a project consisting of participants from business, government and organizations that voluntarily want to commit to reducing their carbon footprint by reducing their energy use and thus work to achieve the municipality's overall climate goal. Public reporting of energy use and climate impact has been studied in order to examine the nature of indicators and accounting figures that are commonly used in the field and how long-term forecasts are formulated. In connection to this, the type and sources for the kind of data needed was also examined.

The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate the performance of the content-based image retrieval system ImBrowse from a semantic point of view. Evaluation of retrieval performance is a problem in content-based image retrieval (CBIR). There are many different methods for measuring the performance of content-based image retrieval systems, but no common way for performing the evaluation. The main focus is on image retrieval regarding the extraction of the visual features in the image, from three semantic levels. The thesis tries to elucidate the semantic gap, which is the problem when the systems extraction of the visual features from the image and the user?s interpretation of that same information do not correspond.

The pace of product development is increasing. It is important to keep high quality in theproducts even though the time for product development decreases. Those companies whichcan utilize previous experiences are positioned with a significant competitive advantage. ToABB Robotics it has become evident that the knowledge transfer process within the productdevelopment department is inadequate. This study was a result and an attempt to address thisunsatisfactory insight.

Corporate responsibility is a popular phenomenon of today. The interest for the subject is extensive and means for implementing corporate responsibility strategies within organizations are demanded. There are studies showing how management control systems can be used in order to implement general strategies into organizations. Still, management control systems designed for the implementation of corporate responsibility strategies, in particular, are not provided by the current academia. The aim of this paper is to contribute to studies within management control systems by studying the management control system specifically designed to implement corporate responsibility strategies.

In 1994 the EU directive of packaging waste was adopted. The result was that all EU member states developed different systems to manage packaging waste and recycling. This paper examines the various systems and the factors that affect the level of recycling. This is done by a cross-sectional study between countries. The results of my study suggest that take-back system generates less recycling than other systems, the mandatory deposit system can affect the recycling in a positive way.

Management control systems are a popular area of research and a lot of new research has been done over the past years. This development has been looking into new situations and circumstances, and interdisciplinary studies are being made to further understand the connection between different fields of study. A new field of study that has grown significantly over the past few years is the connection between management control systems and entrepreneurship. Leading researchers have proposed a number of questions for further research and one of them is the board of directors? use of management control systems in entrepreneurial firms.The purpose of this study was to examine the differences and similarities in the board of directors? use of management control systems between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms.The study was conducted as a deductive qualitative study through interviews with respondents from entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms.

This essay sets out to compare political participation in two e-petition systems: The Malmö initiative in Malmö, Sweden, and Better Reykjavik in Reykjavik, Iceland. The main question of the essay concerns the aggregative and deliberative qualities of the Malmö initiative and Better Reykjavik, as well as the relationship between aggregation and deliberation. This main question is divided into four subqueries that lead the empirical analysis. These are: (1) Which similarities and differences in terms of design are there between the Malmö initiative and Better Reykjavik? (2) To what extent have these systems mobilized an aggregative political participation? (3) What similarities and differences are there concerning aspects of deliberation? and (4) What is the correlation between aggregation and deliberation like in the two e-petition systems?The method in use is a comparative cross-sectional study with a 'most similar research design'.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short range wireless communication technology that enables data exchange between devices. NFC is used in many different areas, from subway tickets to authentication systems. This paper presents possible security threats to Near Field Communication and documented attacks that have been used to target various NFC protocols. Weaknesses in different NFC protocols will be presented and suggestions on how to counter certain weaknesses will be discussed. This survey will be valuable for companies interested in protecting their data when using or planning to use NFC systems..

I have done a comparative gender study of Library of Congress Classification from 1900 and 2001. I have also used a hermeneutic method and ideological critics to find out what picture of women the both systems shows. In my comparative study of the both systems I have found low update of classes which relates to women in the new classification system. Men seem to be a norm in the system, because men are not defined in classes related to both men and women. But many classes related to women are named Women as and Women in The study also shows that women are more related to subjects about family and marriage than men are.

The objective of this thesis was to develop a method for the planning of road upgrading at Holmen Skog, a Swedish forest company. A critical issue for creating such plans is to identify roads that are suitable to upgrade to a standard that can handle heavy traffic during spring thaw, since spring thaw is a bottle neck for transporting timber. The method was tested in a case study at a district. The work consisted of two parts. The first was to retrieve and prepare geographical data for the roads.

Following paper deals with the questions about prehistorian and medieval settlements in the Mälar Valley and their relations to the historically known hamlets or single farmsteads from the 17th- and 18th-century cadastral maps. Models over settlement development through the period A.D 200 to 1700 done by geographers Ulf Sporrong and Dan Carlsson are tested and compared to the knowledge won by recent archaeological excavations. Is there a connection between the older settlements linked together by dry-stone walls and the late Iron Age settlements? Does the picture differ from the one presented for the Gotland region? How well are the general theories about different settlement development depending on basic natural conditions as for the potentials for cultivation and topography, corresponding to the physical remains?  Are there other factors involved when the settlement structure takes its form?The methods that are used here constitutes mainly of a comparison between different locations in the Mälar Valley that has got a well known prehistory thanks to extensive archaeological excavations. Cadastral maps, soilmaps, topography maps and maps over ancient monuments are intertwined to the same map and analyzed through works in Geographical information systems.The results of this study reveal an interesting suspicion in the continuity-question through the Iron Age.

The climate issue is a significant question, and the problem is mainly caused by human activities. Everyone can help to counteract the enhanced Greenhouse effect by reducing the amounts of energy they use and by not consuming more products then they need.Schools are some of societies many consumers and therefore contribute to the Greenhouse effect. The School also has an important task; to teach and disseminate knowledge and information about the climate and the environment. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverket, must all schools regularly consider the environment and sustainable development throughout the entire education process. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many schools in Sweden today.One of many tools that can be used to coordinate environmental work and initiatives, and also to make it more efficient, is environmental management systems.