This Master of Science thesis was completed at the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Instituteof Technology in Stockholm in collaboration with Lund Faculty of Engineering, Luleå University ofTechnology and Stanford University. At Stanford University a global product development project wasrealized as part of the course ME310. The project was initiated by the American company ImmerseGlobal whose vision was to develop a new type of Atmospheric Water Generators, a machine that absorbsthe moisture in the air and via a water system transforms it to pure drinking water. The project was partlyfinanced by the Product Innovation Engineering program, a Swedish research and development programfor increased innovation capability in organizations.In parallel with the global project in the ME310 course the product development process was studied inorder to compare it with a product development course at the Royal Institute of Technology, IPU. Thetwo courses are similar to each other in several aspects.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine if there where fallacies in the design solutions for the business system IFS Applications from a user perspective, and if so, correct these from a cognitive science approach.Data collection consisted of three main portions. These where; workshop, individual interviews and observations. The collected data was analyzed and resulted in identification of two main areas in the application that where found lacking.The result of the study showed that the usability for processing large amounts of data and the lack of customization where the main flaws in the application. Two low fidelity prototypes where created with the purpose of rectifying the underlying flawed design solutions that where identified from the collected data..

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and propose improvements to the cost accounting system in use at an airline operating on the Swedish market. The choice of study object is based on the airline?s desire to have its cost accounting system evaluated. During the analysis we have identified a number of points where the current cost accounting system does not correspond to its intended purpose. These points include significant groups of costs not being considered in the current system, potential over capacity is not visible and logic connections between distribution keys and the use of resources are sometimes lacking.

The purpose of the study is, through literature and interview studies, to analyze and draw attention to critical mindedness regarding news features in a multilateral way. In the interview 16 participants got to see three SVT news features with lack of criticism. Great importance was given to the spontaneous reasoning of the participant. The study is explorative and has given a number of hypotheses and ideas for further research concerning the subject. Among other things the study shows that previous beliefs affect the critical mindedness of the individual, that individuals have the ability to think critically if reminded and that the trust of the source and medium affects the critical mindedness of the individual..

Den här uppsatsen handlar om hur två grannkommuner har valt att organisera kring resursfördelning för barn i behov av särskilt stöd. För att ta reda på detta har vi studerat de av regeringen formulerad styrande dokument samt skolplanerna i kommunerna. Vi har också tagit del av offentliga dokument från varje kommun som visar det mål och visioner de har för skola och utbildning. För att skapa oss en djupare förståelse kring tankarna runt de val som görs och hur de kan te sig ute i de olika verksamheterna har vi intervjuat en skolledare, en specialpedagog samt de ansvariga för resursfördelning på berörda kommuner. Intervjuerna gav oss de svar vi sökte i våra ursprungliga frågeställningar.

This paper is about the importance of engagement, cohesion and clarity in offshore outsourcing projects. The focus is on how the communication is handled between co-workers in different countries. My research is based on qualitative studies of literature on the subject, along with interviews with leaders in various companies in Sweden that utilize offshoring to countries in Asia. This study shows that the companies interviewed who utilize offshoring are all taking care to create engagement, cohesion and clarity in their offshore offices. It also shows that companies can succeed with their offshore strategy without using agile development methods, contrary to what literature on the subject recommends.

This is a study of the discussions and sense making that HR-professionals and HR-students present concerning the phenomenon of diversity, through the theory of social representation.Our purpose is to study the reasoning around the phenomenon of diversity and what meaning HR-students and HR-professionals create around it. This study also attempts to examine how HR-professionals and HR-students reasoning and interaction differ from each other. In this study we have used the qualitative method of social representation through focus groups.The common themes found in the data material were the meaning of the phenomenon diversity, how the work with human resources can be connected to the phenomenon of diversity and diversity as an issue in society. The main result in this study was that we found a wide range of meaning put into the word diversity by the participants and that the individuals in the focus groups actively strived for consensus..

This case study examines how upper secondary schools in a municipality in the northern parts of Sweden structure their special pedagogy with students who have ADHD and dyslexia, students? and parents? experiences of this, and what regulates the schools management in this particular aspect. The results show that all the schools have special pedagogues and other support staff employed, though in varied extent. Furthermore, the resources are distributed differently from school to school. The focus, however, is always around communication between the concerned parties.

The aim of this report is to analyse the use of the capacity at the CNC (computer numerical control) cutters and show how the level of set up time for these cutters at Stålöv AB. This assignment is concrete whereas there are no subjective questions to this matter and there are only cold figures presented.Production economy is getting more important as the competition hardens and there are several different ways to increase productivity and efficiency in a company. In order to increase productivity and efficiency work studies are used to, through an analysis, find developments in methods that result in improved work methods and to establish the time that are used. Increased production of different parts and customer driven production in combination with increased demands on rationalisation of capital have led to an enlarged interest for shorter set up times in the production.To point out the use of capacity and the set up time of the cutters at Stålöv AB we used frequency studies. Frequency studies are work measure methods based on random observations on predetermined events to calculate the relative occurrence of these events.

This paper examines how debt cancellation, given under the HIPC-initiative, has affected corruption over the period 2000-2006. The examination is foremost interesting due to earlier research showing that high corruption leads to unequal distribution of economic resources. This, combined with the objective of the HIPC initiative to reduce poverty, indicates that combating corruption must be successful in order to fulfill the goals of the initiative. A linear regression shows that countries that have benefited from the HIPC-initiative indeed have a lower corruption than other countries. A panel-data analysis shows on the other hand that no effect on corruption due to debt cancellation or reforms undertaken in the program can be confirmed..

The subject of sms-loans is examined by using primary and secondary sources?. This form of credit is formally independent from other obligations with a very short credit period and the amount of the loan is low. This form of credits is applied by mobile phones and on the internet by several companies, some of them are presented in this essay. These type of creditors do not come under any sanctions from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as is customary for other creditors, they only need to register.

Background: A health damage that has been specifically related to nursing is pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers are a complication caused by disease, care and treatment and can result in great suffering for the patient. Pressure ulcers can affect people both physically and psychosocially and is experienced, by most patients, as a serious and unnecessary complication of care. Today there are hundreds of identified risk factors for pressure ulcers described that can be divided into patient and care-related risk factors. A successful pressure ulcer prevention and treatment is to reduce or eliminate the underlying causes for the development of pressure ulcers, prevent deterioration and to treat existing ulcers.

The intension with the thesis is to investigate how mass communication is adopted as a strategy to increase the membership activity within religious communions in Sweden. In the years past it has shown a decreased activity within religious communion, deliberate strategies have been missing and efforts on resources for less effective strategies have been made. The study has been carried out through a review of existing theory within the field of subject, communication within religious communion and the use of mass communication within religious communion. The Swedish church was chosen as a case, where three persons were interviewed. The result from this study shows that the Swedish church communication operates on several different levels: these are detached and self-determinate.

Earlier studies and research on the subject of perception and social media during the working process resulted in a change of the problem. At first the focus of the study was to examine how social media affects the perception of a brand although later on the problem had to be developed to instead examine if social media reflects the perception of a brand. The purpose of this study is to figure out if social media reflects consumer?s perception of a brand. This will contribute to company?s knowledge on how important social media is in their branding and will give pointers on how many resources that is necessary to spend on branding in social media.

Participation, public art and participatory public art as phenomenons and subjects have been studied and discussed. With interviews and observations as a base, we have studied projects and discussed participation, effect and quality in relation to these. Furthermore we have looked at how the participatory art processes work in Sweden and England. This essay seeks to discuss the process of participatory public art and to emphasize the elements contributing to the quality of this process. It is up to us as planners to recognize the possibilities for a qualitative place. To mediate between different interests, for example between politicians and stakeholders, between economics and quality, between the place and its users, between individuals and the community, and in our case between artists, users and the municipality. Public art has gone from being about the product, an art piece, to becoming more of a process, from non interactive to interactive. Participation ranges from receiving information to play an active part in the process. Four cases have been studied, taken both from Sweden and England, showing the diversity of processes connected to Participatory Public Art. From interviews conducted in Sweden and England information and thoughts have been received and they show a higher degree of use of participatory public art in England, and also a higher consciousness.