In this study the speech of adolescents with unilateral cleft lip andpalate (UCLP) and delayed closure of the hard palate was evaluated.Evaluations were made with experienced speech-language pathologists(SLP:s) and lay listeners. The SLP evaluation consisted of typical cleft palatespeech variables and some of them were adapted for lay listeners. Attitudestowards the speech of the adolescents were investigated by asking laylisteners if the speech constituted any hindrance to vocational performance.The SLP:s mainly found nasal escape and velopharyngeal impairment (VPI),although to a small degree and extent. The lay listeners mainly foundresonance deviations and indistinct speech. The latter was associated withhindrance to vocational performance.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

I have researched different methods for practicing with the purpose of learning some useful ways to handle my performance anxiety issues, to better understand the phenomenon, and to be able to perform better under pressure. I chose or created nine methods and used each during a decided period of time, each period ending with a performance. Afterwards I analyzed the methods with the help of audio recordings and written concert evaluations to see if it was possible to alter my practicing techniques to be more directly focused on preparing for the concert situation..

The Energy Performance Certification in Sweden was developed as a tool to achieve the Government's target to reduce Sweden's energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020. The Energy Performance Certificate has previously received some criticism for not fulfilling its purpose. Questions that formed the basis for this report is how the energy performance certification provides support to buyers of single-family houses and if the energy performance improved in terms of reliability. The report begins with a background description that describes how the energy declaration works and some of the findings of previous evaluations and surveys. A survey to investigate the broker's position to energy performance have been conducted as well as interviews with buyers and sellers of houses. An investigation whether the energy performance can vary between different calculation programs, depending on various assumptions made by the energy declarant, has been made.Brokers and sellers have proved negative attitudes towards energy performance, particularly brokers.

The Energy Performance Certification in Sweden was developed as a tool to achieve the Government's target to reduce Sweden's energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020. The Energy Performance Certificate has previously received some criticism for not fulfilling its purpose. Questions that formed the basis for this report is how the energy performance certification provides support to buyers of single-family houses and if the energy performance improved in terms of reliability. The report begins with a background description that describes how the energy declaration works and some of the findings of previous evaluations and surveys. A survey to investigate the broker's position to energy performance have been conducted as well as interviews with buyers and sellers of houses. An investigation whether the energy performance can vary between different calculation programs, depending on various assumptions made by the energy declarant, has been made.Brokers and sellers have proved negative attitudes towards energy performance, particularly brokers.

I en allt mer flexibel och osäker arbetsmarknad, har individers uppfattning av sin anställningsbarhet påverkan på deras hälsa och mentala välbefinnande. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om core self-evaluations kunde predicera anställningsbarhet, det vill säga individens bedömning av sina egna möjligheter att skaffa ett nytt, likvärdigt arbete. Datainsamlingen bestod av enkäter som besvarades av 406 anställda vid tre olika rikstäckande organisationer i Sverige vid två tillfällen (2005 och 2006). Hierarkisk regressionsanalys utfördes för att studera effekten av core self-evaluations på anställningsbarhet; då kontrollvariablerna kön, ålder samt utbildning, kontrollerades för. Resultatet visade på ett positivt signifikant samband mellan core self-evaluations och anställningsbarhet.

The aim of this study was to understand how evaluations are implemented and used in procured nursing homes for elderly. Our methodological approach consisted of a single-case study research. The case in this study was Växjö municipality. Three procured nursing homes for elderly were chosen in the municipality as examples of implementation and use of evaluation. The method for retrieving empirical data and the analyzing of it was based on triangulation.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and critically investigate eight different evaluations of the retrieval effectiveness of webbased search engines. The questions to be answered in this investigation are: - What kind of relevance judgements have been used? - Which criteria have been used when judging the relevance of a document? - Which measures have been used? - How many queries have been used? - How were the queries constructed? - What document cut-off value has been used? - Has hypothes testing been applied? - What kind of webbased search engines have been included in the evaluations? The study showed that although the evaluations investigate the same phenomena, they are very different from each other in certain aspects. Generally the study showed that precision is the preferred measure in comparison to recall in the chosen evaluation even though all the included evaluations have constructed unique formulas for calculating precision. Some attempts to measure relative recall have been performed but they all suffer from different defects.

The aim of this study was to understand how evaluations are implemented and used in procured nursing homes for elderly. Our methodological approach consisted of a single-case study research. The case in this study was Växjö municipality. Three procured nursing homes for elderly were chosen in the municipality as examples of implementation and use of evaluation. The method for retrieving empirical data and the analyzing of it was based on triangulation.

Small scale internal consumer tests provide a company with a cheap way to get valuable information regarding their products advantages and flaws. Therefore the demand for possibilities to do this kind of test has increased. This report is part of a new sensory project at Unilever. It presents a method for sensory comparison of the company?s own products with the corresponding competitor products.

The aim of this study was to understand how evaluations are implemented and used in procured nursing homes for elderly. Our methodological approach consisted of a single-case study research. The case in this study was Växjö municipality. Three procured nursing homes for elderly were chosen in the municipality as examples of implementation and use of evaluation. The method for retrieving empirical data and the analyzing of it was based on triangulation.

Today, activities funded with public funds needs to present relevant and reliable information which shows the results obtained. Requirements increase in welfare activities to be run based on scientific, empirical knowledge. This applies particularly to social work. The social work is, however, poorly researched in areas such as knowledge of interventions in the content, context and effects. One way to evidence-base social work can be to conduct regular and qualified assessments.

The aim of this study was to understand how evaluations are implemented and used in procured nursing homes for elderly. Our methodological approach consisted of a single-case study research. The case in this study was Växjö municipality. Three procured nursing homes for elderly were chosen in the municipality as examples of implementation and use of evaluation. The method for retrieving empirical data and the analyzing of it was based on triangulation.

As self-service technologies become more common in service provisions, a deeper understanding is needed of how customer satisfaction is affected by automated service encounters. Drawing from theories of customer satisfaction, human interaction, and the dynamics of complex service provisions, the differences between automated and interpersonal service encounters in the initial part of a service provision are examined in terms of customers? evaluation of the service encounter itself, overall satisfaction, as well as the service encounter?s impact on global evaluations and evaluations of other non-dependant service encounters. The study was performed on people travelling by air on Swedish domestic routes. Passengers were asked to evaluate the airline?s performance on different attributes of the air travel they had undertaken, as well as to form an overall evaluation of the service.

Introduction/Background: Economic evaluations help decision-makers to make informed decisions regarding resource allocation. Information generated from CEA can support evaluations of a new intervention with current praxis. The evaluations also provide information as to whether an intervention is cost-effective, both in economic terms and in health gains. Objective: The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of economic evaluations in public health, with a focus on CEA. Use of economic evaluations is regarded as both a method for evaluation and as support for informed decisions.