Performance appraisals- a study of the performance appraisals significance as a tool for development in the public sector.Anders Larsson and Åsalill OlssonPerformance appraisals have been given a central role in leading businesses in the public sector and are seen as a tool to create development opportunities and achieve better results. This has resulted that performance appraisal in many organizations takes up capacity and time. This was the starting point of our interest to study whether the time spent on performance appraisals effectively pays for itself in the organization, in other words whether the effects expected actually are achieved. The paper examines first line managers` views on staff appraisal purposes and effects of a function within the Landstinget. The survey design, methodology and transaction are of qualitative and quantitative method with three different sources: literature review of previous research, interviews with first line managers in Landstinget Västmanland and the results from an employee satisfaction survey conducted on behalf of Landstinget Västmanland.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of midwives and gynaecologists at youth health clinics about their own thoughts of risks with unprotected oral sex and testing of orally contagious sexually transmitted infections (STI). The aim was also to investigate the level of knowledge of oral STIs. One further aim was to examine what they thought about the level of knowledge about oral STIs among adolescents and how common unprotected oral sex is within this group and if oral STIs/oral sex is brought up in the form of information or questions during STI-testing.Method Seventy-five youth health clinics all over Sweden were randomly chosen. A questionnaire was sent by mail to the clinics. It included questions about attitudes, knowledge about STIs and information exchange.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.

The purpose of this study was to understand how the concept of quality as an idea was spread to and translated in municipal elderly care. A central question was: How does literature, policy documents and key people describe the function and meaning of the concept of quality? The method of analysis was a qualitative case study with a critical discourse. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly what is known as institutional theory and a Line of thought describing how ideas are transferred and spread. The theoretical focus is on how original ideas are interpreted and why they gain a foothold in new contexts.

An investigation of the heat impact of laser cutting on the material properties when producing tensile and impact test specimens of different steel types of varying thickness has been performed. The purpose of the thesis project was to provide recommendations regarding how much material that needs to be milled from the laser cut edge before tensile and impact tests. The study has been performed partly by investigating the test specimens by heat camera when the specimens were cut in the laser cutting line and partly by performing hardness tests, investigation by microscopy, and tolerance and roughness measurements and tensile tests of the laser cut material and material produced in the traditional multi operation machine. The results show that the heat affected zone in the thicker materials is greater than previously thought of, and that the currently used recommendation has to be adjusted. The study clearly shows that the thicker the material, the greater the heat affected zone, independently of the steel type, since the thicker material takes longer time to cut.

 Performance appraisals- a study of the performance appraisals significance as a tool for development in the public sector.Anders Larsson and Åsalill OlssonPerformance appraisals have been given a central role in leading businesses in the public sector and are seen as a tool to create development opportunities and achieve better results. This has resulted that performance appraisal in many organizations takes up capacity and time. This was the starting point of our interest to study whether the time spent on performance appraisals effectively pays for itself in the organization, in other words whether the effects expected actually are achieved. The paper examines first line managers` views on staff appraisal purposes and effects of a function within the Landstinget. The survey design, methodology and transaction are of qualitative and quantitative method with three different sources: literature review of previous research, interviews with first line managers in Landstinget Västmanland and the results from an employee satisfaction survey conducted on behalf of Landstinget Västmanland.

Burkina Faso as well as most sub-Saharan African countries struggle with providing food for a fast growing population. The dominating farming system is agroforestry parklands. Agroforestry parklands can broadly be defined as areas where scattered trees occur on farmlands as a result of selective clearing. The presence of trees in crop fields may in the long term have a positive effect on the production of annual crops. It is commonly discussed, but not proven, that the presence of trees leads to increased groundwater recharge due to higher infiltration capacity of the soil.

Title: What women want ? a study about young men?s self-presentation on the on-line dating site Spray Date.Authors: Anna Tuvehagen & Josefin HultTutor: Lena Widding-HedinPurpose: Our main purpose was to identify implicit norms and ideals for masculinity in young men?s advertisements on the on-line dating site Spray Date.Questions: How do the men present themselves on Spray Date and what do they accentuate in their advertisements? What kind of relationship do the men hope to establish and what qualities and attribute do they look for in women? Are there any notable differences and similarities regarding our findings of ideals and the ones in previous research?Method: In order to answer our questions we chose 100 advertisements made by men in the age 18 to 25. To analyse the advertisements we used a qualitative content analysis, however we have some quantitative elements.Main results: The men in our study are searching for love on Spray Date and usually describe themselves as nice, cheerful, decent guys with good sense of humour. Although, spare-time interests and activities are what the men mainly focus on. Their interests are broad and all sorts of combinations occur why it is difficult to place the men in categories.

We choose to revise the need of dental care in horses. How important is the dental care for our horse´s use and for their health? The objective of this work was to see if there is a difference between Swedish veterinaries and educated horse dentists opinion concerning horse dental care. As horse owners, we have experienced that there is a conflict between the opinions of these two occupational groups. Some veterinarians say that there is a tendency to use to much treatments or instruments in horses mouths, while some horse dentists says that there is not enough treatments done in horses´ mouths.

I Upplands Väsby utanför Stockholm tillverkar Kraft Foods bland annat choklad under varumärket Marabou. Vid anläggningen finns en Pralin Line som är en automatiserad produktionslinje för tillverkning av chokladpraliner i ask. Under en tid har Pralin Line inte kunnat motsvara förväntningarna och har inte haft den linjeeffektivitet man eftersträvar. Som ett led i detta har ett projekt initierats för att öka effektiviteten vid Pralin Line. En del i projektet är detta examensjobb som syftar till att utveckla det förebyggande underhållet vid Pralin Line.

I Upplands Väsby utanför Stockholm tillverkar Kraft Foods bland annat choklad under varumärket Marabou. Vid anläggningen finns en Pralin Line som är en automatiserad produktionslinje för tillverkning av chokladpraliner i ask. Under en tid har Pralin Line inte kunnat motsvara förväntningarna och har inte haft den linjeeffektivitet man eftersträvar. Som ett led i detta har ett projekt initierats för att öka effektiviteten vid Pralin Line. En del i projektet är detta examensjobb som syftar till att utveckla det förebyggande underhållet vid Pralin Line.

Abstract- Stress, conformity, groups and self-worth in high-school girlsThe aim of this questionnaire-survey was to investigate the experience of stress and symptomsof stress in high-school girls, and to examine if the experienced symptoms of stress could bepredicted by groups, self-worth and conformity. Another purpose of this study was to describethe girls own thoughts concerning these factors. 80 girls between the ages of 15-18 yearsanswered the questionnaire. The results showed that stress could be predicted by theexperience of conformity, but not by the experience of belonging to a group and self-worth.The most common symptoms of stress were tiredness, problems to concentrate and headache.The girls reported that they thought that girls of their own age were ?slutty and cocky?, andthey thought that it was important to look good, but at the same time many girls were happyabout themselves and they had realised that they had to live with who they are.Keywords: high-scool girls, stress, groups, self-worth, conformity.

The taste of the dairy product is probably the main factor determining consumer?s dairy products choice. Consequently it is of great importance that the product tastes good and as expected every time. Off-flavors in milk can be caused by for example oxidation of the milk fat. Since copper is a prooxidant, a high copper content in the milk can cause oxidation.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.