The development of productivity in the construction industry has long been at a steady state compared to the manufacturing industry. Studies have shown that, amongst other things, waste on construction sites can reach up to one third of the total production cost. This has been observed from different aspects, and change is forthcoming.This thesis aims to provide a foundation for an increased productivity at production sites of building bridges. It is primarily based on a field study at Skanska, at a bridge construction site near Grängesberg. Via continuous interviews with the whole production crew, construction workers and management, information on interference and possibilities of improvement at the work site has been documented.

Bakgrund: Brytpunktssamtal är svåra samtal för alla deltagande. Bemötandet och hur beskedet ges kan bli avgörande för patient och närståendes upplevelse av livets slut. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av brytpunktssamtal i kommunal hemsjukvård. Metod: Data analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys med induktiv ansats. Sju intervjuer genomfördes med sjuksköterskor.

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

The main goal of this project was to develop some sort of a diverter for pipestransporting waste in a vacuum system. This unit was supposed to be both cheap andeasy to serve/exchange worn out parts. With a limited space to install the pipeexchanger, the challenge was to keep it as compact as possible without constructingbends with to small radius or to sharp angles as this would wear out the system a lotfaster than planned. The system was also supposed to be able to handle clothes andscrubs from hospitals. Having too much sharp edges or angles would tear the clothesapart.

The aging population is a challenge for Europe and there must be cooperation between EU member states to join the challenge to meet. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the EU's ability to influence older people's health, based on experiences from a selection of European officials and on a review of the EU's common strategies. The authors studied and problematize the implementation of the strategies that the EU has negotiated for the work against the elderly poor health, with a view of member countries have different conditions. Using qualitative methods, we have collected and processed statements from targeted interviews and publications by a range of European policies. The material was then analyzed from implementation theory and organizational theory, and based on results of previous research. The result shows that the EU is developing common strategies and coordination methods to the aforementioned challenge to meet. The results also show that the differences existing between Member States causes implementation difficulties of the common strategies. The study states ultimately decide that there should be common strategies to facilitate the work of Member States when it comes to countering the elderly poor health.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between non-audited and audited sustainability reports and in that way indicate the significance of auditing to the contents of a sustainability report. The study was delimited to include three companies that create sustainability reports according to GRI guidelines, and also have changed from non-audited to audited reports.The study is an exploratory study where we started from companies that follow GRI's standard and who have changed from being non-assured to assured and certified. In order to examine any differences we have started out from corporate sustainability reports and with the basis of these latter gather those changes which may have occurred during the changeover. We therefore chose to conduct a literature review on each company's non-audited sustainability reports and compare them with each company's audited and certified sustainability reports. Furthermore our study has been made on the basis of an assessment model based on the concepts of materiality, completeness and comparability.The study showed that the audited sustainability reports in all companies were more focused and more detailed about the aspects GRI established for the performance indicators.

The aim of this study was to investigate how four families in the Stockholm area reason, what kind of preconception they have and what their horizon of expectations is when they make the choice between sending their children to the profile class of municipal/free schools and sending them to the general classes in those schools. The main research questions asked were:What kind of preconception do the parents have about profile classes?What reasons do the interviewed parents have to send their children to a profile class?What are the interviewed parent?s expectations of the profile class choice?The study is built on qualitative interviews with the parents of the families. The empirical data has been analyzed using a framework of theories drawing on the theory of reproduction, the forms of social capital, the ideas created from the word profile and elite and the horizon of expectations. The results show that the parents of the families have a similar degree of preconception about profile classes.

Today many industrial companies invest a lot of resources on research and development to resist the tough competition on the global market. This leads to a high risk game when the companies start many development projects, with uncertain outcome where some of the projects have to be terminated prematurely. The main purpose with this study is to identify factors, both internal and external, that influence the decision to terminate projects prematurely in Swedish development projects. Factors mentioned in the literature will be compared with case studies on three Swedish industrial companies to demonstrate the most important ones when taking such decisions. First a literature study was made to identify basic terms, a general project model and factors affecting the decision.

In this essay we strive to examine how the social work in Sweden will be affected if the Swedish welfare model goes through fundamental changes. The study illuminates the close connection between the Swedish collective bargaining model and the Swedish welfare system. The questions we present in this essay, and hopefully answer satisfactory, are: is the Swedish welfare model subject to thorough changes? How will such a change alter the social work in Sweden?, is the Swedish collective bargaining model in a state of modification? Would a modification in the collective bargaining model have effects on the Swedish welfare model?We have used a qualitative method in collecting empirical material. We interviewed three representatives, who worked for Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, IF Metall and The Swedish Municipal Workers respectively.

The decisions for investment are forward-looking and the base of a long-term strategy. The research within investment have focused on diverse formulas which are used in financial assessment, which also should be complemented with qualitative evaluation. Consequently, the focus should not only be on the execution of the formulas. Less time have been spent on research concerning what actually initiates the investment proposals and affects the decision-making. This will be highlighted in this essay.

The personnel policy program for the employees in studied municipality includes guidelines for the working environment, saying that health promoting activities is offered to all employees.                              Objective: To investigate how these activities were used and how the staff perceived the activities offered. The aim was also to find out how well the information about current health promotion efforts reached the staff.Method: A qualitative approach was used in the form of interviews. The sample consisted of municipal employees from seven different work sites.  A total of 12 women aged 32-52 years participated. The interviews were recorded and a hermeneutic theory was used to interpret the results.Results: The results showed that most informants used some form of fitness activity. In most cases health care-time was used for anything from walking to organized workouts. The great barrier was lack of information and lack of trained and dedicated health motivators. In several cases, informants had no knowledge about what a health motivator is supposed to do. The informants own suggestions for health promotion interventions included stress management and foot care.Conclusion: The survey showed that respondents were poorly informed about which wellness activities the municipality offered. The result could also be interpreted as a communication gap between the local authority, health motivators and the employees. A request for group activities was detected.  .

This degree project is an inquiry in how plan layouts and functions should be designed to suit families with children. The project aim to, if possible, find good solutions and designed houses that satisfy the requirements a family have.Last spring we contacted Willa Nordic AB, a company that produce houses, and they had a suggestion to investigate living for families with children. Their motif were that they lacked in information and knowledge in how to design houses that correspond to a family's needs. We thought the idea was exiting and motivating.The autumn 2008 studies were made on earlier published reports, in the subject "living environment", to get a solid background. The earlier inquiries shows a clear development through the whole 1900's, from being without standards to have well defined norms.

In the next few years the pollutants loading at the Slottshagen wastewater treatment plant in Norrköping is going to increase due to the reason that one of the waste water treatment plant in the district will be shut down.A survey of how these different pollutants are divided in the treatment process is therefore necessary for mapping out both the loading and treatment efficiency.This can be achieved by studying mass balances.Mass balances were carried out for the water treatment process for the mechanical/chemical,biological and the chemical stage.The mass balance studies show that the treatment efficiency was very good. However in order for the mass balances to be quite consistent and to ensure complete coverage of results and conclusions i.e. more reliable results, sludge samples should be collected and taken at different times per day and the influent rate should be investigated.In this work mass balance has been set up in order to illustrate and identify the factors that should be considered and taken care of for further estimation using mass balances in the future. Furthermore this survey results in a calculating model for the mass balances at thisplant.This calculating model is used as a tool to facilitate future calculations for mass balances for the water treatment process at Slottshagens wastewater treatment plant.Moreover it provides a basis for carrying out further estimation of the treatment process in the near future.In this project the importance of some operating parameters was also taken in consideration.This calculating model can be modified so that calculations of such operating parameters i.e. sludge loading and sludge age can be easily performed.Such information can be used further to evaluate different operation alternative in order to ensure an optimal use of the treatment process with in the plant..

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how some children's librarians view their working situation. There is one main question and three subquestions at issue: How is the working situation of the children's librarians today described by agents on the library field? - Are children's librarians ascribed any value and has this changed during the last three decades'? - What is the apprehension of children's librarians and what qualities should they possess? - What is considered to be most important about work of children's librarians'? The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with children's librarians, library managers and library consultants. The interviews are analysed by the help of Pierre Bourdieu theoretical concepts; capital, habitus, field, doxa and distinction. Today, children's librarians are ascribed capital by their librarian colleagues because of their specialist qualifications.

Out of totally 1862 hectares of the Swedish fruitacerage, only 142 hectares are cultivated according to the EU-standards for organic farming. Only 73 hectares are connected to the Swedish control organisation KRAV. Therefore only fruit from this acreage can be sold as organic. The aim of the study was to further investigate the organic fruit production regarding cultivation, market and firm strategy. Through interviews with 36 fruitproducers the situation for organic fruit and the companies were examined.