The competitive nature of the automotive industry has always implied a necessity to improve product development concerning time-to-market, cost and product quality. As capacity of computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools has evolved, so has the strive for simulation-driven design. Virtual durability testing using full vehicle models is one of many challenges posed in front of vehicle manufacturers when computer simulations are given a key role in product development.This thesis has been initiated as a preliminary step towards implementing dynamic virtual durability testing in the development of buses and coaches at Scania. The objective has been to assess the predictability of a full vehicle coach model and to what level of precision structural loads can be predicted. Previously performed proving ground testing of a Scania Touring coach has been the basis for the modelling and simulations in this thesis.A virtual model of the Scania Touring coach has been created in multi-body simulation software package MSC.Adams.

The credit rating industry is a complex and fascinating industry. Its history stretches back more than 150 years and has gradually increased in importance. During its history the dynamics of the industry have changed. The extended-principal-agent model was developed by synthesizing different principal-agent-relationships into one model. This model provides a holistic understanding of the credit rating industry and illustrates the interdependence between the different relationships.

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..

Abstract________________________________________________________________Författare/Author Richard TähtinenTitel/Title Youth hockey from a coach perspective. A qualitative study about coaches´appreciations concerning youth hockeyThe aim with this study is to strengthen the knowledge about coaches´ appreciationsconcerning youth hockey. This study contains interviews with three leaders that operate onthe strategic level within youth hockey and three coaches working with youth players in theages of 11 and 12. I have divided my main results into 4 categories, based on an earlier studyfrom Karin Redelius (2002). These categories include the following themes:1) Competition on the good and the bad2) The importance of winning3) Shake-out versus sports on children’s terms4) Instruction, play and learningThe main conclusions in this study show that leaders on the strategic level appreciate youthhockey in a very similar way.

Wood has always been an important material for people, and it is used for many applications. As for example, fuel for cooking and heating houses, construction materials and for constructing means of transport. Since wood also is a material that with time biologically degrades due to activity by micro organisms and wood fungi it is important to find ways to protect and further lengthen the life span of the material when in service. One method is to decrease the amount of water in the material by impregnation with an hydrophobic oil. The Linotech method which uses only pure linseed oil is one such possible method. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility to at the same time impregnate and stain/colour wood samples of pine and spruce by using the Linotech method.

The aim of the present study is to describe the experiences of high school students as regards the effects of their activities, in and out of lessons, being published on the web. In addition, a further purpose is to acquire knowledge about whether a website could be used as means of increasing the students level of attention, and focus, to their activities in school; and, furthermore, how such a website should be designed to correspond with the students requests.The implemented methods are interviews with students, school administrators and teachers. A survey was conducted covering the student?s personal experiences and opinions. Furthermore, an interface test of the website was performed.

Background: When someone suffers a spinal cord injury, the nerve impulses between the brain, the muscles and the skin are intercepted, thereby resulting in motion and sensory loss.  During the recovery process, healthcare professionals play a vital role in ensuring that the patients have a positive experience of care, recovery and rehabilitation.Aim: The aim of this study is to determine how patients at a rehabilitation clinic in Sweden experienced the following: The patient?s experience of how well they were received by staff, the staff?s ability to explain and inform the patient of important details concerning their care and the staff?s ability to involve the patients in their own care.Method: A qualitative interview approach was used when undertaking this study. Six patients at the rehabilitation clinic were interviewed, and the interviews were later analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Result: The collected material was divided into ten categories that were sorted into three subheadings: reception of staff, information and involvement. Reception of staff, with categories: helpfulness, commitment, consideration, professionalism and reception. Information, with categories: if the patients felt well-informed.

The study consist of an investigation regarding the implementation of reassurance policing in Sweden and include a survey conducted among some of the local police offices in Stockholm County. The aim of the study is to investigate how the police officers working in the local polices offices experience the implementation of the local police offices and if the implementation of local the polices offices matches the police authority´s purpose with the project. The study uses the theoretical framework from political scientist Michael Lipsky calledStreet-level bureaucracy - Dilemmas of the individual in Public services which discuss the role of street-level bureaucrats and their influence in the implementation. Included in the study is also two different perspectives on governing in public sector called top-down perspective and bottom-up perspective. The findings of this paper shows that the police officers are in general positive towards the implementation and that there´s a duality among the police officers regarding the proximity to the citizens..

During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils have difficulties with algebra. Also in a report from the National Agency for Education (1999) you can see that the students algebra knowledge get worse and worse. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in algebra during my training to become a qualified teacher I would like to get to know more about this. I also examine why you have to study algebra in upper secondary school.

In the constitution of Sweden everyone has the right of common access in the nature. Toprotect these rights, as well as the nature, in areas close to shores the environmental law ofSweden (miljöbalken) protects areas within 100 meters from the waterline. Due to amendmentin this law, Swedish municipalities have to present countryside development areas close toshores. Within these areas, which are to be displayed in the municipality?s comprehensiveplan, it will be possible to get exemptions from the protection if the planned measure willbenefit the development of the region.

People with positive affect seem to have great advantages in life. Goal achievement, the main cause of well-being for all organisms, seem to be a typical trait of these people. The purpose of this study was to examine (i) what influences positive affect, (ii) the relation between positive affect and goal achievement, and (iii) characteristics of individuals with positive and negative affect. Five individuals with self-rated positive affect and two with negative were interviewed. The responses were classified in fifteen themes.

This paper investigates the relationship between the two modernist writers Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. The two authors had a frail and complicated friendship that influenced their fiction and fictional characters more than the general public knows. My paper investigates how Woolf can have found her fictional story ideas direct from their friendship. With a comparative theory I?m finding and giving examples of how their friendship is reflected in their fictional stories, and I?m backing up my examples with citations from their own diaries, letters and notebooks.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine the existence of criteria and to what extent high school students use these criteria when they are collecting information for a school assignment. I also compare students attending different high school programmes with each other and compare students on different levels of education.I have done a quantitative study with 284 students in which the students have filled out questionnaires.The result shows that the most common way to evaluate information is to compare sources with each other. Students also look at how the information is written, and they want the information to be detailed and easily available. More seldom used criteria include consideration of the authority of the writer, determination of how up to date the information is, and gauging the perspective of the information.The result also shows that students attending a high school programme that prepares them for higher education are better at evaluating information than students attending a high school programme of vocational preparation. Students at a higher level of education are also better at evaluating information than students at a lower level of education. .

AimThe purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-perceived health and level of physical activity among the staff at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH). We focused on the following questions:How does the amount of physical activity affect the self-perceived health among the staff at GIH?  Are there any gender differences in self-perceived health following the amount of physical activity? Do the self-perceived health and the amount of physical activity differ between the various age groups? Are there any differences between the staff responsible for health education compared with the other staff?MethodWe chose a validated questionnaire for our study. It was a combination of two already previously validated questionnaires together with our own supplementary background questions. The questionnaire was presented to 96 respondents and we received 76 answers.

Current technology offers many possibilities for remotecommunication. Nevertheless, people with cognitive and communicativedisabilities have limited access to common communication technology like textmessaging via a mobile phone. This study is part of the project Text messagingwith picture symbols - a possibility for AAC users and people with cognitiveimpairments. Semi structured interviews were used to investigate three menand four women?s experiences of using Windows mobiles with adaptedfunctions for text messaging.