Aim: To investigate if physical exercise in combination with coaching will reduce pain and improve knee function in patients with mild to moderate osteoarthritis in the knee compared to physical exercise alone.Method: The study consisted of 42 patients who were randomized to either an intervention group or a control group. Both groups followed a standardized training program at home, but the intervention group received additional support with regard to the aim of their training, as well as extra coaching during the training period of ten weeks. A Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the patients? pain. A 10 metre walking test, the Index of Muscle Function (IMF) and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were also used to evaluate knee function.

AbstractLean production has become one common concept within industries to make the work more effective and to meet today?s hard competition. A challenge for Chinese production is the threat from new low cost countries. It will become very difficult to succeed to produce to a lower cost than these countries; this led to that Chinese companies must develop new strategies, according to Lee and Zhou (2000). This will put China in front of new challenges and new strategies can be needed to retain their strong competitive advantages.

People working with handling parcels in terminals are often victims of musculoskeletal injuries. This is largely due to the hazardous lifting of too many parcels which are too heavy and unsuitable work postures. The human body?s ability to lift and grasp objects is so outstanding that developing a device with the same capability is very difficult.The goal of the project has been to develop a technical device that will improve the handling of parcels with regard to ergonomics. The area of concern was the lifting of parcels between the conveyor belt and the cargo space of the freight car.

This report describes a project carried out in cooperation with Klippan Safety AB. The purpose of this project has been to develop a product that facilitates the living area in a truck cabin for the customers. To be able to develop, in a structured way, that kind of product, the project has been based on different product development theories. The project contained of following parts: marketing research, product generation, product evaluation and prototyping. After information from the marketing research and discussions with the company, the decision was made that the task was going to consist an Improvement of the existing product referred to as 'the comfort module'.

About 1000 women in the so called developing countries die every day associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region. This study aims to explore the different key factors in national development that can interact with a reduced maternal mortality. The study compares 15 countries in sub-Sahara where the greatest reduction in maternal mortality occurred with 15 countries in sub-Sahara where maternal mortality reduction has been at its lowest, between the years 2000 to 2010. This study also analyzes the link between reduced maternal mortality and various key factors for national development.

Every year, KTH participates in the Shell Eco Marathon, a competition whose goal is to design a vehicle that can go as far as possible using only the equivalent energy of one liter of petrol fuel. This year, one of KTH?s contributions to this race is the Agilis prototype; a car powered by a uniquely configured HCCI-engine developed at the university. The engine is dependent of several subsystems in order to work properly, among other, systems for cooling and lubrication.Combustion engines are in need of a cooling system that reduces the heat developed during the combustion. In general, two main types of cooling systems are employed; either air cooling, where the outside of the cylinder is exposed to a flow of the surrounding air, ore water cooling, where water flows in tubes around the engine, and the heat are transferred by the water to the surrounding air through a heat exchanger.The purpose of the lubrication system is to prevent the friction that builds up in the interference between moving parts in the engine.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the interest in Sami reindeer herders to use the Low Stress Stockhandling (LSS) method for handling reindeer. Also to find out which reindeer handling situations they think works the best and the worst, and which might need Improvement. The purpose of LSS is to reduce the stress animals are subjected to during handling by creating consistent and calm responses from the animals. This is done by handling the animals through the animals? point of view and using natural herd behavior to accomplish this.

ABSTRACTPurpose: The purpose of the study was threefold. Firstly, to investigate if a four week program in pain rehabilitation had any effect on how much individuals with persistent pain worked and their degree of kinesiophobia. Secondly, to study if there was a correlation between how much these individuals worked and their degree of kinesiophobia. Thirdly, to study if there was a correlation between the change in these variables.Method: 112 patients who had participated in a four week rehabilitation program took part in the study. The study had a retrospective design, which was based on a review on medical records and consisted of three minor parts.

Introduction: Sex and education level has demonstrated effects on health status.Osteoarthritis is a widespread disease that causes reduced health-related quality of life and isthe most common reason for total hip replacement. Osteoarthritis was ranked as the 11thhighest contributor to global disability as reported in the Global Burden of Disease 2010.Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how sex and education level together affectedhealth-related quality of life after total hip replacement. The aim was also to examine whatdimensions of EQ-5D that changed.Methods: The study is a prospective observational study with a quantitative approach. Dataconsisted of education level, obtained from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and health-relatedquality of life before and one year after total hip replacement from the Swedish HipArthroplasty Register (SHAR). Health-related quality of life was measured with astandardised instrument, the EQ-5D, and the study population consisted of 39,141 patients.Results: Womens? EQ-5D-value, before and one year after surgery, were lower in alleducational categories compared with men.

AbstractStudent democracy as an objective and as a meansEssay in Political Science, D-levelAuthor: Erik LisshammarTutor: Susan MartonDespite attitudes towards student democracy being generally positive, students have almost no influence over their position. This implementation study looks into whether or not students? weak position of power results from something other than a democratising of schools taking priority when student influence is encouraged.With an aim of explaining what is hoped to be achieved and if these intentions are to be spread, the purpose is to investigate to what extent standards concerning student democracy are transferred between institutions. In order to find out, the question is posed of whether their aims for student democracy conform. This overriding question is coupled together with the following four defining research questions:1.

Information technology and globalization has led to an increasing competition and service production has been more and more independent of locations. This has made a market of outsourced telephone costumer service possible. Due to high establishment the market has been saturated and with that price has sunk. Customer companies have the last few years got more negative to outsourcing of their telephone customer service as they through operating the customer service internally want to get closer to their customers.In the empirical study the writers try to figure out which companies the callcenters should try to aim towards to get long and profitable cooperation. This will be done through deducing guiding principles from theories about how different factors around companies costumer service should look like.

This report is a B.Sc. Forestry thesis work at the school for Forest Management, SLU. The work was an assignment from the forest owners? association Mellanskog. The aim of the work where to investigate the economical result of removing undergrowth trees before first thinning, and a follow-up of the contractors and their compliance with Mellanskog standards. This thesis work was divided in three parts: The first was to find a relation between the net volume from the first thinning and the cost of cleaning undergrowth trees. Secondly there was a follow-up in the field, to investigate whether the contractors have done the undergrowth cleaning according to Mellanskog?s directives.

This master thesis was carried out at ELFA, one of the largest catalogue distributors of electronics in northern Europe. ELFA offers a wide selection of products such as measuring instruments, fuses and screwdrivers. The master thesis handles the possibilities of an increase in the internal flow of products. The background to this problem is ELFA?s acquisition of two new companies, which brought the product range in the warehouse from 55 000 to 80 000 products.

As competing organizations struggle to become more effective, one field stands out as one of the vital keys to success; internal communication. Even small errors in information handling can end up into obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. Managers constantly need to adjust the internal communication to fit variables that mirror the structure of the organization. This thesis is a study about how and in what magnitude structure affects organization?s internal communication.We have done qualitative interviews with McDonald?s and Diesel, two different global organizations within the branch of service business.

Today it becomes more and more important to work with continuous Improvements to stay ahead of the competitors. Pfizer in Strängsäs started working with continuous Improvements in 2010. By the end of 2012, the company?s goal is to reach 24 Improvements per employee at the factory.Their project has two main purposes; to examine the need and possibilities for visualization regarding continuous Improvements at the production department and to develop a concept for visualisation of the entire factory?s continuous Improvements.To attain the information required to examine the needs at the production department, interviews with relevant employees at the department were conducted. Using interviews as a benchmarking instrument was also helpful in getting different points of views.