This Master of Science thesis was completed at the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Instituteof Technology in Stockholm in collaboration with Lund Faculty of Engineering, Luleå University ofTechnology and Stanford University. At Stanford University a global product development project wasrealized as part of the course ME310. The project was initiated by the American company ImmerseGlobal whose vision was to develop a new type of Atmospheric Water Generators, a machine that absorbsthe moisture in the air and via a water system transforms it to pure drinking water. The project was partlyfinanced by the Product Innovation Engineering program, a Swedish research and development programfor increased innovation capability in organizations.In parallel with the global project in the ME310 course the product development process was studied inorder to compare it with a product development course at the Royal Institute of Technology, IPU. Thetwo courses are similar to each other in several aspects.

Det här arbetet består av en djupgående fallstudie av FN:s roll i Kambodjas demokratiseringsprocess, där fokus ligger på den stora interventionen som skedde i början av 1990-talet. Arbetet är till stor del av deskriptiv karaktär där vi försöker reda ut händelseförloppen i Kambodja efter Röda Khmerernas fall. Vår utvärdering av FN:s insats är att den har haft en stor påverkan på landet, men att man inte till fullo lyckades uppnå den långsiktiga demokratin som var FN:s intention. En förklaring till varför man inte lyckades skapa demokrati i ett längre perspektiv, kan förklaras utifrån de organisatoriska brister som fanns, men även FN:s rädsla att bedriva det ledarskap man ålagts genom fredsavtalen. Vi kommer att utgå från ett koncept om ?peace-maintenance?, som innebär ett helhetsperspektiv, där vi konstaterar att FN hade kunnat förbättra vissa punkter för att åstadkomma ett bättre resultat..

The purpose of this essay was to study the family situation in connection to the absence of one parent due to participation in international peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations. Focus was on the temporarily absent parent's point of view. The study was based on five interviews with parents shortly after their returning home. The main questions has been how the parent described the child-parent relationship before, during and after the absence; the children's experience during this time according to the parent and the family's adjusting to and coping with the situation. Conclusions made from the study show that with a good stabile child-parent relationship and good parenting skills of both parents the families in this study were successful in coping with the situation.

Trafficking är ett problem som ökat markant under de senaste decennierna i takt med det allt mer globaliserade samhället. Given den transnationella karaktären hos problemet, krävs det ett internationellt samarbete för att komma till en lösning på trafficking. Icke- statliga organisationernas arbete mot problemet är vitalt för att få ett slut på den moderna formen av slavhandel Vi gör en komparativ fallstudie över tre organisationer som, med olika intressen och syn på problemet, föreslår olika åtgärder. Genom denna fallstudie har vi som intention att se till hur dessa organisationers olika formuleringsprocesser snarare bidrar till konflikt än till samarbete. Dessa organisationer ställer vi i relation till FN, som vi menar kan verka som medlande part och ett instrument för organisationerna att få sina röster hörda..

The study Packning i tid och rum (Crowding in Time and Space) is a Master Thesis in Human Geography within Geography, presented at Södertörn University College.The aim is to investigate the connections between time and space, more particularly, geographical changes over time. This is done by focusing on the Study of Land use as a phenomenon and on-going processes in demarcated areas. Distinct areas are given special interest, i.e. how they are used. The study deals with three different kinds of sites in three levels of scale: a market garden, cemeteries and a residential area.The main focus of the study is on the cemeteries.

Det finns många faktorer som påverkar hur svårlöst en konflikt är. Vi undersöker en av dem, nämligen skuggnätverken, genom att titta på kausalsambandet mellan skuggnätverk och staters olika uppbyggnadsprocesser. Begreppet skuggnätverk är en adaption av Nordstroms ?shadows? ? det vill säga ekonomiska och politiska länkar som på både lokal och internationell nivå rör sig utanför de statliga direktiven. Genom att studera skuggnätverkens utbredning i fyra afrikanska länder: Sydafrika, Kongo, Angola och Sierra Leone, ser vi de effekter som de har haft på de ekonomiska, politiska och sociala områdena i respektive länder.

The purpose of this study is to show how the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet andDagens Nyheter reported on and described Dag Hammarskjöld as a man and a symbolat the time of his death in 1961. The method for the research has been a qualitativethematic analysis of the content in the articles published from the date ofHammarskjöld´s death to the day after the funeral. The study has been based on theoriesabout newspapers roles in the construction of imagined communities, the use of mythsand the objectifying of abstract ideas in news texts.I have found that the investigated newspapers described Dag Hammarskjöld assynonymous with the United Nations, the world peace and a hope for the future. He wasalso described as a link between the present and the past in the Swedish history at thesame time as he was described as a man of the people. He was representing?Swedishness? in an international context and the cosmopolitan.

Since the war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina in1995 the country's economic and political crisies has grown dramatically. As in so many other Post-communist states the corruption has become a large problem for the whole society. The ethnic entities in which Bosnia is divided makes it possible for the national parties to operate and rule the same political propaganda that was the result of the war in the first place. However the international forces like the EU and the USA have made this kind of no non-centralised governmentship possible through the Dayton peace agreement, according to many experts this has to change in the constitution by any means possible if Bosnia will have a future. By the thesis of Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman the theoretical analysing tool should be followed for the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.

AbstractIn this theory-testing case study I will analyze and discuss the Gulf War which took place in the Middle East in 1990-1991 and has become an important topic for discussion among IR scholars in the post-Cold War era. The events that led up to the Gulf War, as well as the war itself, will be analyzed from two different perspectives; Realism and Liberalism. Within these differing theoretical frameworks I have chosen to use elements from, on the one hand, Classical and Structural Realism, and on the other hand, Idealism and Liberal Institutionalism. Focusing on these specific schools of thought I aim to derive essential, ?key?, concepts that will then be tested against empirical fact.The overall purpose of this study is to try to logically explain, through detailed analysis, the actions of the actors involved in the Gulf War and, in addition, why this war ever occurred.

AbstractThis master thesis was performed at Scania transmission department in Södertälje, where the manufacturing of gears is done. Today a large amount of manual handling is performed between the machining and the hardening process. Most of the manual handling is done at the heat treatment department. The purpose of this master thesis is to give a suggestion on how to reduce or eliminate the manual handling at the heat treatment department. The possibility to use the same packaging throughout the processes will also be investigated.

This study was about how pupils described their school situation with special education. The specific focus was on pupils which are described as ?troubled pupils?, unconcentrated pupils?, pupils in social and emotional difficulties or characterised by similar concepts. The study was based on a sociocultural perspective and an interactional perspective. The empirical material consisted of interviews with eight pupils in age between 9 to 12 years old and who had special education.

The thesis aims to understand how learning processes are affected when an organization split into two separate organizations. The study is designed as a single case, covering a new government agency?s takeover of a core activity from another agency and the use of a purchase-provider split between the agencies, providing the new agency with IT-services. The findings revealed a difference in productive system and knowledge types between core- and IT-activities. The core activity was found to be dominated by explicit knowledge while the IT-activity seemed to be dominated by a mix of explicit and tacit knowledge.

ABSTRACTMy degree project has resulted in the improvement of the guidance in the dental center?s entrance. The patients will now find it easier to understand and find the environment?s various functions, which is the reception, registration, payment, and waiting rooms. Norrbottens läns landsting has a concept ?hälsofrämjande väntrum? that provides guidelines for how they want their patients to experience their waiting rooms.

In this thesis we have tried to answer the question of whether or not the peaceorganizations working in Israel and Palestine have an impact. We have answered the question by analyzing six different organizations; three who work with children and the other three with women issues. The analysis contains a case study of each organization and then a comparison between the two groups. This study is built on theories about; grassroots organizations, women in organizations and intergroup communication. Our conclusions in this thesis show that there are some similarities between the groups as well as there are differences.