The report describes an ecodesign thesis performed by the author at the ÅF EcoDesign Center. The basic idea of ecodesign is to develop products with a minimized environmental load, without neglecting other significant product aspects such as function and price. During the last couple of years the public interest in environmental friendly products has increased, which has made it possible for companies to make a profit from their investments in ecodesign. To meet the increasing market for ecodesign services ÅF started the ÅF EcoDesign Center, where the company has gathered all of their competence in ecodesign in order to help companies to become greener. The task was to develop a tool for an Eco Screening.

In 2007 Swedish Meats, the dominant Swedish meat-producers cooperative sold its slaughtering and processing industry. The goal of a producer cooperative structure is to create value for members through vertical integration, and to strengthen members? market position. When Swedish Meats sold the slaughtering and processing components, it ceased in some respects to serve the function of a cooperative. This is a lost opportunity for both members and non-members, because Swedish Meats as a functioning cooperative could have exploited its dominant market position to positively effect producer?s prices.

I en värld där kraven på flexibilitet, säkerhet och hårdvaruoptimering är nyckelfaktorer när det kommer till att välja IT-miljöer för företag blir virtuella skrivbord mer och mer poulära. Med dessa miljöer finns det också problem när det kommer till användarupplevelsen om nätverket ifråga inte kan uppfylla de krav som ett sådant system ställer. I detta arbete undersöks implikationerna vissa nätverksvariabler kan ha för en Virtual Desktop-infrastruktur, VDI. För att belysa dessa problem har två tester utförts på en VDI miljö. Det första testet gick ut på att mäta latensen då skrivbordsmiljön renderades för klienten från virtualiseringsservern vid olika nätverksdiamterar.

In many products a compromise between ground clearance and the required space to store the product has to be made. This problem attracted the attention of the authors of this thesis.The objective of this project is to develop a functioning solution to a foldable wheel. The solution should be applicable to several types of product groups. A limitation for this work has been made so that the work only covers solutions for lighter vehicles.The purpose is to drive this project forward, so that a solution can be found. Furthermore the purpose of the report is to clarify how the authors proceeded to design and construct the wheel according to a fixed specification.

The purpose of this study has been to examine a few Swedish advertisment producers opinions on the subject of viral advertising and especially the ethical aspects of hidden viral advertising. The specified purpose of this paper is to:To clarify the underlying reasons for the use of viral advertising.To clarify the advertising producers ethical views on hidden viral advertising.The essay is based on a qualitive research metod of an abductive nature where the empirical data is derived from interviews with three advertisment producers. Through a stratified selection method we contacted agencies that in one way or another uses digital solutions as an advertisment method. All interviews were conducted via the digital chat room Skype, one of the interviews were conducted with both picture and sound and the other two with audio-only.The following points are the essential conclusions of our study:Hidden viral advertising is seen as a rare promotional method in Sweden today, however, the viral-spread effect is more commonly used.The economic factors together with the spreading capacity of the viral advertising is contributing to one of the biggest reasons behind the use of viral advertising. In addition to these, viral advertising is seen as an effective way to stand out from traditional advertising.Viral advertising where the sender is hidden or unclear is always seen as unethical.

  Aim. The aim of the study was to describe how nurses in home care experience to pursue palliative care in ordinary housing. Methods. The study had a descriptive design with qualitative approach and was carried out through semi-structured interviews with 14 nurses in home health care from two medium-sized Swedish municipalities. The material was analyzed with manifest and latent content analysis. Findings. The underlying theme that emerged in the study was: Working with palliative care in the patient´s own homes is positive but challenging. Informants describe among other things that they perceived palliative home care as meaningful and that relatives have a central role in the palliative home care since they are close to the patient around the clock. The stress that emerges from the heavy work load and the long geographic distances are described as strenuous and to affect the care in a negative way. Informants describe the home environment as challenging as it is often not adapted for care and the collaboration with the palliative team is described to be experienced as both positive and negative.

The thesis presented in this report has been made on behalf of Scania and their basic frame design department with the subject to solve an implementation of a weight sensing system in the chassis. The system is supposed to be implemented in the seat springs, and the reason for this is that all the force will have to go through the weight sensing transducers. With all the force going through the transducers the weight sensing system will not be sensitive for the differences in tolerances from manufacturing. The transducers could be pre-calibrated to avoid a calibration of the whole vehicle after it?s completed from the manufacturing line.Weight sensing systems is today a reality in trucks with air springs.

The electric vehicle market has potential to contribute to Sweden?s national goal to have a fossil fuel independent transport sector by 2030. However, the market answers to a lot of challenges making it difficult for the market to fully reach its potential. The volume of electric vehicles has seen a steady increase during the last year (2012), although many of these vehicles are mostly for PR purposes or bought by the public sector that wants to lead by example. Still, barriers in the form of high purchase costs, an anxiety for the limited battery capacity and the lack of standardisation are some of the problems that the market is struggling to solve.

When designing roads it?s important to knowwhat loads will bedriven on it. The axles on heavy vehicles can either have super single tires ordual tires which, according to studies, damage the roads differently. The SwedishTransport Administration is developing an understanding for the character ofthese different kinds of axle and tire types on the loads induced on Swedishroads. In this thesis a field study was conducted to determine the distributionbetween axles with super single tires and axles with dual tires on heavy vehicles.A highway, a country road and a national road were investigated during thestudy.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine some information aspects of decision-making in Swedish municipal committees. Which are the information needs and how do they emerge? How is the needed information sought and received and which are the sources? How do the members of the committees use information when making decisions? To answer these questions qualitative interviews were conducted with four politicians (two chairpersons representing the political majority and two vice-chairpersons representing the opposition) and three officials in a municipality with a population of about 50 000. The politicians were interviewed in capacity of decision-makers, whereas the officials from the local administration are of interest through their decision-supportive role, which includes providing of reports and other information. The examination indicates that even if the conditions to some extent differ between the committees, the administration is highly influential: Notions and proposals about action may come from inhabitants, organizations, politicians etc., but are handled by the administration, which often is the problem formulating actor, through which the informational needs nearly always are canalized.

Denna rapport är en del av ett examensarbete på avdelningen för "Byggteknik och design" med inriktning "husbyggnad, projektering och konstruktion" på Kungliga Tekniska högskolan i Stockholm, Sverige.Rapporten handlar om byggandet av ett tak för en skolbyggnad i byn Lwengo Basilla som ligger i sydöstra delarna av Demokratiska republiken Kongo. Skolprojektet finansieras av en ideell organisation i Sverige som heter "Elikia na Biso" och leds av Miza Landström. Designen och konstruktionen av skolan har tagits fram med hjälp av studenter från olika avdelningar inom Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH). En grupp studenter från KTH hjälpte till att lägga grunden och väggarna i skolan. Nästa grupp av studenter skickades för att hjälpa till med byggandet av skolans tak.Denna rapport fokuserar på att dimensionera och konstruera taket på skolan med hjälp av lokala material på ett effektivt sätt.

We have chosen to focus on the meaning of long-term income support dependency regarding health, goal setting and motivation for the recipient of economical aid. We have chosen to use semi structurized interviews to achieve our goal of reaching the clients experience of long-term income support dependency. The study consists of interviews of six clients whose answers have been analyzed through appliance of Kielhofner´s Model of human occupation, Scheff´s Shame in self and society.   Our results show regarding, 1) the factor health that long-term income support dependency may elevate the risk of illness and less experienced options of possibilities to act. 2) regarding the factor goal setting, that goals may be inefficiently used during social work with long-term income support dependent clients and may result in a disorganized relationship between client and social worker in the sense of making the parties pull in opposite direction. 3) regarding the factor motivation, that long-term income support dependency and the living with the emotion of shame elevates the risk of maintaining a negative image of oneself that limits the willpower to assimilate new knowledge and/or skills.

In 2007 Swedish Meats, the dominant Swedish meat-producers cooperative sold its slaughtering and processing industry. The goal of a producer cooperative structure is to create value for members through vertical integration, and to strengthen members? market position. When Swedish Meats sold the slaughtering and processing components, it ceased in some respects to serve the function of a cooperative. This is a lost opportunity for both members and non-members, because Swedish Meats as a functioning cooperative could have exploited its dominant market position to positively effect producer?s prices.

Native spider silk is an attractive lightweight natural polymeric material with a unique combination of strength, extendibility and flexibility. Synthetic, recombinant spider silk is an attractive biomaterial with several possible fields of application. When a foreign material is introduced to blood, this can for example cause unwanted coagulation and complement activation. The aim of this study was to investigate if coatings of heparin or albumin could improve the blood compatibility of films of recombinant spider silk and to develop an initial method to do so. Hypothetically, objects like pacemakers, stents and dental implants could be covered with spider silk films of high blood compatibility to reduce potentially harmful foreign body reactions caused by the immune defense. Increased blood compatibility would likely lead to improvements for both the individual patients and the society thanks to reduced load on healthcare institutions. Our objective was to assess the blood compatibility of both functionalized and non-functionalized recombinant spider silk by evaluating coagulation and activation of the complement system of the immune defense. Coagulation was evaluated visually on glass slides and complement activation was analyzed by measuring the concentration of the complement system mediator C3a in blood samples that had been exposed to the different materials. This study introduces a non-toxic and easy performed method of improving the blood compatibility of recombinant spider silk films by adding a heparin coating. Heparin coated surfaces had statistically significantly higher blood compatibility than uncoated surfaces. The effects of albumin coating of films were less clear compared to the results of heparin coated films. Complement activation could not be evaluated because of high activation in all samples prior contact with the materials that were included in the study..

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to increase the knowledge of which strategies students with reading and writing disabilities or dyslexia use to learn in secondary school. The study aims to examine the following questions:Which coping strategies do students with reading and writing disabilities use in their studies?How can remedial teachers support students with reading and writing disabilities in their learning process?The study consists of two interviews with a total of three hours recorded material made with a secondary school teacher who teaches Swedish and English. The teacher has experiences of reading and writing disabilities herself but also from teaching students with dyslexia. The interviews are constructed into a lifestory describing experiences of reading and writing disabilities in school, during teacher training and as a teacher.