This master thesis reviews advances in detection and diagnosis of static friction (stiction) in control valves. Control valves suffering from stiction results in oscillating control loops which in turn decreases both the process stability and reliability. Perstorp AB sees a necessity to automatically detect stiction in valves before the effects of the malfunctioning valves have become too severe. This thesis presents an introduction to maintenance, control loops and how stiction in valves can affect performance of control loops.A selection of methods presented in the literature are introduced and examined using normal operating data from the site in Perstorp. Common for all selected methods is their intuitive ideas and that they are based on normal operating data and minimum amount of process knowledge.

There is consensus in research, policy, business and many other areas around the benefits of creativity. Previous research shows that creativity is only spurred under certain conditions. Usually creativity is not associated with concepts such as control, deadline or cost effectiveness. Companies, by contrast, have the need for control and management of their operations, which implies that the two processes can be difficult to reconcile. A company that wants a high creativity while maintaining control and management is forced into a series of organizational compromises.

In today's globalized world it is essential to achieve goal congruence within a multinational corporation despite the distances between the headquarters and subsidiaries. A case study has been performed to examine how control of sales units within a Swedish multinational corporation is achieved. Otley's framework has been used in the study to provide an overall picture of the control system where the analysis is based on five areas: key objectives and goal evaluation, strategies and plans, target setting process, incentives and motivation as well as information flows. To complement this framework, theories of convergence and divergence by Busco et al. have been used as well as theories of hierarchical control and self-control by Holmström.

The aim of this study has been to examine the role of control mechanisms when it comes to building relationships in a small business network. In order to reach this goal, we have performed a case study of a Swedish supplier of machines to the engineering industry, which acts as the exclusive representative of a foreign manufacturer on the Swedish market. Main results: A number of control mechanisms, both formal and informal, could be identified in the network. Their specific use, as well as relative importance differ between different actors in the network. In general, the importance of formal control mechanisms decreases as the relationship evolves over time and the importance of informal ones, mainly trust, increases in a corresponding manner..

Abstract. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine certain health, demographic and socioeconomic factors that affect the costs for specialized health care between the municipalities within the Västra Götaland region. Method: The method is explorative and analytical. The costs for specialized health care was divided into three different subgroups; independent somatic specialized health care, specialized health care provided by private practices or outside the region and psychiatric specialized health care. The data was age-standardized.

This study deals with the complex phenomenon of occupational health. There is knowledge of how a good work environment should look like, but despite this, many employees experiences ill health in the workplace mainly in the form of neck and back pain. This study is a case study conducted in a high-risk workplace. The overall purpose was to describe and analyze the health situation of a specific company with neck and back problems. Mainly, eight interviews had been used as the data collection method, but additional observations had also been implemented.

The function of budgetary controls is to control the resource allocation within companies. It can also be an instrument for measure and control subordinates and/or business units? performance (Van der Stede 2001). This paper concerns the latter; when the budgetary control function is used to measure and control subordinates performance based on budget. Previous research in this area has not yet accomplished to explain the effects of tight budgetary control which Hartman (2000) considers as the main issue to be concerned about in management accounting research.Previous research has presented contradictory findings regarding tight budgetary control explained by positive effects as well as negative effects during the last decades.

Electromyography (EMG) is a technique that measures muscle activity, whichmeans detecting the electrical signals that travel through the muscle in connectionwith muscle contraction. This project deals with how EMG can be used tocontrol a computer game.The project is centered around the game 'EMG Track Game' which has beenconstructed as part of this work. 'EMG Track Game' is controlled by twoelectrodes fastened on the player. These are attached to two selected musclesand control the motion in one direction each, one up and the other one down.The game is constructed in the purpose of being used in several elds of application.Among these are as entertainment, training equipment and a tool inresearch related to EMG and muscles.To highlight a possible application a study concerning muscle control has beenconducted. It answers the question of whether players score better with theirdominant arm in comparison with their non-dominant one.

The purpose of the study was to find out how Swedbank Insurance view of health characterizes wellness work at the company. It was a qualitative study in which five persons involved in their health and wellness work were interviewed. Their business plan was based generally on the basis of the biomedical approach, but the results proved otherwise. The four categories that were set up after the results were; Health is to feel good physically as well as psychologically, health is the absence of illness, wellness is to do things together in a healthy environment and wellness is to challenge their co-workers with different kinds of challenges..

In the present thesis, we have studied the management control system in Enskede-Årsta-Vantör, one of Stockholm?s municipal districts, with focus on theories about New Public Management (NPM). When NPM was introduced, a number of complications arose. Some of these, along with the district?s solutions of the complications, are described and analyzed using e.g.

This is an essay about health promotion and organisation development. The problem concerning all health issues that can be tied to work related illnesses has long been a problem in Sweden. For example did this problem alone cost the Swedish government 25 million crones a day between the years 2000-2001. This is a major issue and there is lots of money to save in this area. This is why we wanted to research how to promote health by changing the structure of the selected company.

The purpose with this study is that examine if the contingency factors as sort of market and competition can affect the companies, which means of control they apply..

In theory, the management control of maintenance functions is described as problematic due to the nature of the work performed in the unit. The purpose of this thesis is to examine these predicted problems in practice. Further,the thesis aims at identifying how these control problems may affect the relationships between the maintenance department and its internal customers. A case study has been conducted in one of Sweden?s largest industrial companies to investigate the said control problems in practice.

With a changing climate, we can expect higher temperatures and more precipitation in Sweden.As the temperature increases, new weed species are expected to migrate in from more southerlylatitudes, resulting in requests for new techniques for weed control. In addition, we might see agreater number of weed species and higher biomass production due to increased concentrationof CO2 in the atmosphere.Increased understanding of the biology of specific weed species will become more importantin future weed control. This will help to control the weeds more efficiently. Higher prices onpesticides and a public demand for reduced use of pesticides make growers more inclined to usemechanical weed control on a larger scale and to a greater extent prevent weed establishmentbefore sowing. A well-planned crop rotation is the most important preventive measure, whichmight also include delayed sowing, and dark harrowing and sowing.Research takes place on many levels within the weed area and several alternative methodsare being developed.

By the year of 2007, 97 % of all listed companies in Europe had a CSR strategy described on their website. As the concept of CSR during the last decades has increased rapidly in popularity, a need to understand how such a strategy can be implemented has followed. While working with CSR in an integrated manner shows similarities to other popular management ideas, such as Lean and TQM, companies applying to a CSR strategy has been shown to be under higher scrutiny from media and NGO:s. Through a case study this thesis examines how these special circumstances of a CSR strategy makes The Body Shop use organizational control to avoid being subject to scandals due to not fulfilling the promises made to its customers. The results show that The Body Shop's commitment to CSR creates a need for a stringent bureaucratic control system that highly restricts the freedom of action for its employees.