The luxury market has steadily grown from the industrial revolution and onwards. Changes in society, trends and the increased living standards has enabled more people to consume luxury goods.The world is going through a major economic crisis at the moment. Studies shows that companies that have focused on added value rather than lowering prices has survived past financial crisis. It is also obvious that companies act very different during times of crisis. Adding to the problem is trends that point to a more careful consumption and environmental awareness.

Motivation: The aim of this study has been to conduct a comparative study concerning how race, ethnicity and class is represented in American contrary to Swedish daily press and from there on to explore and explain similarities and differences that have been found in the material.Problem statement:? How is race, ethnicity and class represented in American contrary Swedish daily press?? What are the similarities and differences between the countries? daily news flow?? What causes the similiarities and differences to achieve their current form?Material: The material which has been the subject of this study consists of eight articles ? four American articles (USA Today) and four Swedish articles (Dagens Nyheter). The material has been elected to meet certain criterias and mainly discusses the effects the health care reform will have on the American population.Approach: The material has been approached by using theories concerned with race, ethnicity, class and framing. The method used to analyze the material was Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).Results: The results shows significant similarities, although mainly differences, between the countries? daily news flow.

Because of new emission and on board diagnostics legislations, heavy truck manufacturers are facing new challenges when it comes to improving the engines and the control software. Accurate and real time executable engine models are essential in this work. One successful way of lowering the NOx emissions is to use Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). The objective of this thesis is to create a mean value model for Scania's next generation EGR system consisting of a poppet valve and a two stage cooler. The model will be used to extend an existing mean value engine model.

In connection with the admittance of the EC-directive (99/31/EC) in Swedish politic, through the constitution of waste depositing (2001:512) at year 2001, the rules about management the landfills and leachates tightened. At the landfill Vissberga in the municipality of Hallsberg, a leachate treatment plant was constructed just a year thereafter. This treatment plant consisted of an aerated pond with a following land treatment and a willow cultivation to replace the land treatment during the summer. In this case the parameters, which were estimated as the most important to reduce, were iron and nitrogen. The iron would react with the oxygen-rich water in the aerated pond and precipitate to ferric-hydroxide and than settle in a calm zone of the pond.

This paper is about the new methods and metrics used in industry and business today striving for better revenues and larger market shares. It investigates the relations between the old fordistic and tayloristic way of manufacturing and compares it to the models used in industry today for being competitive, seeking to please customers and becoming more flexible. More specific the paper is about if Six Sigma and lean production are the key for succeeding these days. SKF:s factory in Gothenburg and other companies will make an example for how these methods are used in practice.The aim is to try to answer if these systems with inherited tools and methods are the right way to get the flexibility that is needed for being able to deliver the right goods to customers and market. For a company to be flexible decisions must be made fast and needed changes must be able to be done easy and without too large costs and investments.

E-commerce is becoming more common in Sweden and many Swedes buy clothing and sporting goods online. Online fashion retailers offer a visually pleasing range of products, which places greater emphasis on the aesthetic design of the online retailer. This paper examines how the perceived credibility of an online fashion retailer is influenced by the aesthetic design through a first impression. This study was conducted through ten interviews where the informants observed, assessed, and then discussed the online fashion retailers that were used in this study. Results show that recognition of an aesthetic design and a perception of usability and professionalism affects the perceived credibility in a positive way.

This report is a study made at Pallco AB. Pallco is a subcontractor that is specialized on steel and aluminium components.The aim of the report is to show an improvement proposal that leads to a reduction of the storage and improve the flow through the production of one item that is a part of a product that Pallco manufactures.With the increasing competition from other countries who can manufacture with lower costs must Swedish companies try to make theirs manufacturing as efficient as possible and remove all waste. By using the tools of Lean Production it is possible to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency.The method we used is value stream mapping. A map of the present condition has been made and then different improvement proposal were discussed. A map of a future condition has also been designed..

Arbetet behandlar orsaker till ett kreativt motstånd och flöde. Mitt syfte är att ta reda på vad som driver människor att skapa inom området för låtskrivare/artister. Hur hanterar man idétorka och ?skrivkramp? och finns det någon metod för att upprätthålla ett kreativt flöde?Jag har intervjuat sex personer som alla är verksamma som låtskrivare och artister samt använt mig av litteraturstudium. I mitt arbete har jag kommit fram till att skrivkramp kan uppstå av många olika anledningar.

Topography is an important parameter for catchment hydrology, since it is a driver for water flow. Moreover, topography serves as a basis for hydrological models, e.g. ?Top-model?, which is based on a topographical wetness index (TWI). Few studies of TWI have been conducted on agricultural catchment scale. Four fields were studied in a Swedish drained agricultural catchment in order to evaluate the influence of topography on soil wetness.

Syftet med arbetet är att kartlägga och att finna möjligheter till förbättringar i projektflödet. Arbetet berör de delar av företaget som befinner sig i ett tidigt skede av projektflödet eftersom ändringar i dessa skeden kan göras till en liten kostnad. Informationsinsamling har skett genom fria samtal, dock med vissa förberedda frågor. Information har inhämtats från flera delar av projektflödet så som försäljning, projektledning och konstruktion. Vi har kommit fram till att det är värt att lägga mer resurser på förbättringsarbete och se över ansvarsfördelningen för detta.

Titel: Vi sitter alla i samma vagn ? en observation av interaktionFörfattare: Malin JätmarkHandledare: Abby PetersenInstitution: Sociologiska institutionen vid Göteborgs UniversitetTyp av arbete: Examensarbete i sociologiTidpunkt: november 2007 ? januari 2008Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med undersökningen är att få en ökad förståelse av interaktionen ombord på en spårvagn. Frågeställningar:Hur interagerar människor ombord på en spårvagn?Hur kan mina observerade data sättas i samband med den inlästa teorin?Material och metod: Som teoretisk bakgrund använde jag mig huvudsakligen av Erving Goffmans begrepp och teorier angående interaktion, kommunikation och agerande samt Eviatar Zerubavel olika teorier om ?flow?, ramar, ritualer, kultur och uppdelning. Tidigare forskning belystes av två undersökningar som behandlade resande över lag men där vissa specifika delar behandlade interaktion och kommunikation.

To lead is to communicate, a main part of the leadership. 80 % of leaders working tasks involve communication of some kind. The ambition of this study is to analyze how four leaders of an international technique consulting company experience and handle community and technical development during their professional courses. The leaders have a various experience of leadership which adds depth and width to this study. To perform the study qualitative method has been used in the form of personal interviews.The result indicates that change is not always beneficial in every aspect of communication.

This is a study concerning the conventions surrounding death and it´s rituals during the latter half ofthe 21th century. The study´s main material is the official magazine of SBF - Sweden´s funeral association ? Memento. By studying the undertaker and the self-image of his services at an intervalof years from 1945 to 2005, one is able to notice certain changes of values concerning what afuneral, a chest and a tombstone really is ? or rather how the meaning of these symbols of death slowly shifts from the ?dignity? of death towards the self-expression of the individual.In the 1940´s towards the 80´s, there is much talk of giving the dead a ?dignified? funeral and burial, and this is how the undertaker defends himself against public critique of his or her´sprofession´s ?trade with death?.

Saabs vision med de interaktiva applikationerna är att de ska tilltala både den nya besökaren och den lojale Saabkunden. Vi observerade tydliga attitydförändringar när applikationerna inte fungerade. Få kunde tänka sig att köpa en bil efter att enbart ha besökt Saabs hemsida då applikationerna i dagsläget inte kan ersätta känslan av att manövrera bilen själv. För att öka graden av ?stickiness? och ?flow? kan Saab integrera applikationerna i en värdekedja.

Titel: Vi sitter alla i samma vagn ? en observation av interaktionFörfattare: Malin JätmarkHandledare: Abby PetersenInstitution: Sociologiska institutionen vid Göteborgs UniversitetTyp av arbete: Examensarbete i sociologiTidpunkt: november 2007 ? januari 2008Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med undersökningen är att få en ökad förståelse av interaktionen ombord på en spårvagn. Frågeställningar:Hur interagerar människor ombord på en spårvagn?Hur kan mina observerade data sättas i samband med den inlästa teorin?Material och metod: Som teoretisk bakgrund använde jag mig huvudsakligen av Erving Goffmans begrepp och teorier angående interaktion, kommunikation och agerande samt Eviatar Zerubavel olika teorier om ?flow?, ramar, ritualer, kultur och uppdelning. Tidigare forskning belystes av två undersökningar som behandlade resande över lag men där vissa specifika delar behandlade interaktion och kommunikation.