The market offers more and more products that are claimed to have medicallypositive effects (like increased blood perfusion etc.) due to their magneticproperties. The objective of this study was to investigate if blankets containingpermanent (static) magnets have a greater impact on cutaneous blood circulationthan ordinary blankets without magnets. Eight standard bred horses were used in across-over study. The cutaneous temperature was presumed to reflect blood flowin the skin and therefore thermography and local thermistors were used to indicatechanges in circulation. Baseline values were registered before the blanket wasapplied.

Förstainstansrättens dom i målet Microsoft mot Kommissionen har gett upphov tillmånga konkurrensrättsliga frågor, bl.a. gällande Microsofts tying av WindowsMedia Player till sitt operativsystem Windows. Denna uppsats för framförallt ettresonemang kring frågan om huruvida de ?traditionella? EG-rättsliga metodersom idag används vid bedömningen av kopplingsförbehåll (tying) är förlegade närdessa ska appliceras på en ?ny? produkt som mjukvara. En analys av konkurrensrättsligdoktrin och rättspraxis visar att Microsoftdomen i delen vad gäller tying ärkonsekvent gentemot den praxis som etablerats på området genom målen T-30/89Hilti AG mot Kommissionen samt C-333/94 P Tetra Pak International SA motKommissionen.

Today, we live in a consumption society. We buy products to soothe our needs and desires. Thru material things we can express our own personal identity and shopping is seen more as a pleasure than a need to survive. With the background media- and communication studies, the reason of this study was to explore how blogs as a social medium can influence the consumption ideal in society. With dialogical analysis and semiotic analysis we wanted to see if we could find a specific consumption culture in the content of six blogs we did our studies on. We found that the blogs showed us that there is normal to have everyday luxury and spoil oneself with expensive things.

When managing the quality of a service producing industry?s products, the industry faces greater challenges than the manufacturing industries do. Today?s globalization puts further pressure on service producing companies around the world to work at their absolute maximum. So, how do service producing companies work to manage quality? In this essay the writers take a deeper look at the travel agency Ving, part of My Travel Northern Europe.

When managing the quality of a service producing industry?s products, the industry faces greater challenges than the manufacturing industries do. Today?s globalization puts further pressure on service producing companies around the world to work at their absolute maximum. So, how do service producing companies work to manage quality? In this essay the writers take a deeper look at the travel agency Ving, part of My Travel Northern Europe.

ICA is the largest general dealer in the Swedish market as well as the largest supplier to the independent ICA-dealers. The principal and one of the biggest stakeholders of this thesis is the department Supply Chain Development who is responsible for the development of ICA?s Supply Chain.The purpose of this study is to examine how ICA?s sales are affected by weather and to make recommendations on how ICA should proceed with its work regarding this issue. By leveraging their forecasts by including weather, ICA hopes that their logistical metrics amount of spoilage, service levels and number of inventory days will improve. This thesis describes how ICA is working with weather currently, and furthermore it discusses the existing literature within this area.

To invent an optimized product is a complicated process. This process is only half of the work. It is equally important to develop a production system that can produce the product in an  efficient and ergonomic way.After several evaluations of conceptual and detailed drawings a final idea has come to light.The idea intends, to the maximum extent, utilize the facility in a more efficient way through moving assembly lines and stations closer to the flock section and the stock for complete products. To make the production better, stations are placed in more logical places given the assignment they are supposed to accomplish. This improves the material flow radically.

The goal has been to design a product for unloading and storing small gadgetsin the hallway. The aim has been to facilitate the search for importantsmall objects that people never seem to find when they need them the most.The aim has also been to provide a sense of relief when people enter theirhome, and they can empty their pockets on one spot in a very simple yet orderlymanner. The product would be able to sort out, and make the gadgetsaccessible, take as little space as possible, be easy to use and not be perceivedas heavy and clumsy. The work has been done with close involvement of afocus group consisting of 20 people of different ages and with different occupations.The behavior of the focus group has been observed and test modelshave played a crucial role in advancing the work troughout the project. Theresult is a series of storage products for the wall, of simple shapes which canbe combined together in different ways depending on hallway and the user?sindividual taste or preference..

Det här examensarbetet har utförts vid SCA Hygiene Products:s produktions-anläggning i Lilla Edet. Där trä och återvunnet material förädlas till toalett- och hushållspapper för konsumenter och industrier. Bakgrunden till projektet var att de anställda vid konverteringen var överrepresenterade vad gäller belastningsbesvär. Projektet var avgränsat till tre av produktionslinjerna vid konverteringen. Vilket omfattade ungefär 55 operatörer som arbetade 5-skift.

This paper examines how companies in a transparent industry work to satisfy the customer in an extended way, to offer value added products that in the end enables the customer to be loyal to the company. We have studied the insurance industry in Sweden and have focused on five different insurance companies. Four of them, Folksam, Länsförsäkringar, Trygg-Hansa and Dina Försäkringar, where we have focused on Ölands Försäkringar which is part of the Dina Försäkringar group, are some of the largest insurance companies in Sweden. The fourth company is Swedbank which is a bank that has started to offer insurances.Our results demonstrate that it is important for the company to see the customer not only in a profitability aspect; the company has to find out what the customer gets in return. In that case the possibility for the customer to change company decreases and the chance that the customer becomes loyal increases.

The foundation for this thesis lies in whether or not, and how, the body representation in printed commercials, specific products directed to the body (shampoo, body lotion etc.), has changed during the last fifty years. Four years have been chosen because of the changes in society that we believe might have had an impact. The commercials that have been picked out are the ones that best represent the general view of the body. We have found that the changes when it comes to body presentation has followed the social development to a certain degree, but it is difficult to say how much the society has had an affect on the body ideal in advertising. Representations of the male body is something that has escalated since the early 70?s, fifteen years earlier few commercials was made with male models, and the few there were, never showed more than the face.

Over the last decade, the private insurance market has undergone a stable growth in turnover and growing demand for insurance products in all Member States of the European Union. Therefore, the creation of a single market in insurance will enable consumers to have access to wider choice of insurance products, and insurance companies to gain access to markets in various Member States and compete effectively. The EU legal framework for the insurance industry embraces the Treaty freedoms of services, establishment and capital, the EC Directives and the ECJ case-law. The present thesis identifies numerous factors that hinder the Community insurance market integration and offers possible remedies. The summary of the market obstacles is all-inclusive and reflects the responses to the questionnaires and the Commission surveys.

This dissertation is carried out on behalf of Two i Sverige AB. Two is a consulting agency which primarily works with the development of homepages. The company has several of its complete applications written in ASP e.g. the development of homepages. At the agency they have seen benefit migrating these applications from ASP to the more flexible environment ASP.NET.

Abstract Apple Computers Inc. is known for their loyal and passionate followers. This study focuses on the brand communities and brand loyalty that is frequently seen among Apple customers. It focuses on the factors that create an apparent deep-set loyalty and passion towards their computers among Mac-users. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of why some consumers feel such a strong attraction to a company, its brand and its products.

The tomato is an important crop worldwide, and in recent years it has received great attention due to its rich content of carotenoids, which in studies indicate to have health benefiting properties. Many studies have been done in this area of research and in how to optimize the carotenoid content in tomatoes and tomato products. The objectives of this essay were to summarize present data in this field. The results were as follows:There are nine different carotenoids identified in tomatoes. Lycopene and ?-carotene are the ones that have been given the greatest attention.