A large part of the Namibian low income population lack access to grid distributed electricity. This mean they are effectively shut out from basic functions such as lighting, information technologies and hygienic food handling. Hence, finding ways of providing affordable off-grid electricity is an important, not to say critical, task.This master thesis is an innovation and concept development project that has been carried out in cooperation with organisations in Sweden and Namibia. The purpose of the project has been to (1) develop a concept for off-grid electricity supply in Namibia and (2) to gain a deeper knowledge within the area of innovation and product development for the Base of the Pyramid population, i.e. the poorest, but largest, socio-economic part of the global population.Essential in this project has been to acquire user understanding and to identify user needs to create a foundation for developing the concept.

The main purpose of this thesis has been to investigate librarians opinions about the need for and possibility to use non-roman script in library catalogues. We have also investigated the routines of handling materials in non-roman scripts in two Swedish libraries. The investigation was made in the light of the recent shift in character set in the Swedish National Library Catalogue Libris. This change will enable use of multiple writing systems in the future.Our findings are that a multicultural society requires special consideration to the needs of citizens who speak other languages than the majority of the population. This becomes difficult when the languages spoken have a different writing system than the one used by the majority.

The electric vehicle market has potential to contribute to Sweden?s national goal to have a fossil fuel independent transport sector by 2030. However, the market answers to a lot of challenges making it difficult for the market to fully reach its potential. The volume of electric vehicles has seen a steady increase during the last year (2012), although many of these vehicles are mostly for PR purposes or bought by the public sector that wants to lead by example. Still, barriers in the form of high purchase costs, an anxiety for the limited battery capacity and the lack of standardisation are some of the problems that the market is struggling to solve.

Abstract The purpose of writing this thesis was to improve methods during requirements engineering phase. Usercentred system engineering has some problem areas, which are examined and verified to create a new guideline for developers. This guideline tends to make requirements engineering more effective and help developers create more concrete requirements. It is not uncommon that system development projects ends up with unsatisfied users or delay in deliveries. The reasons are different kinds of communication problems between users and developers during verification of requirements. There is a therapy model, called solution-focused therapy, used in family and individual therapy. The model focuses on solutions for the future instead of problems in the past.

The problem area was identified due to the fact that research within internal audit is fragmented and insufficient, simultaneously to internal audit becoming more common in the public debate. Crises and scandals in companies such as Enron in the US and Skandia in Sweden have resulted in new regulations regarding how companies should be governed. These regulations have been established in Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in the US, and in Sweden the Swedish code for corporate governance will be implemented in 2005. The regulations imply that companies must provide sound internal control and to accomplish that, companies should have an auditing and consulting internal audit function. The Swedish code for corporate governance denotes that companies can decide to comply or explain why the code is not complied.

The project was performed at SiemensIndustry Drive Technologies with theobjective to provide actual values forthe energy savings potential withinSiemens scope of practice.In Sweden the electrical drives standfor about 30 % of the total electricityconsumption and about 60 % of theelectricity consumption within theindustry. During the pre-study phaseelectrical drives with pump applicationswere identified as large energy users.Because of this a case study at one ofSiemens customers, Stora Enso Fors wasperformed. The system that was evaluatedduring the case study was a throttledsystem with a centrifugal pump forpumping pulp.The results yielded that a saving ofover 50 % could be achieved by replacingthe throttle valve with a variable speeddrive, a frequency converter. Thepayback period was two years and twomonths and the present value for thetotal life cycle cost of the variablespeed system was 662.566 SEK lower thanfor the throttled system. As aconsequence, Stora Enso Fors is advisedto invest in a frequency converter forregulation of the system.The general conclusion is that a focuson system efficiency is the mostimportant factor in energy efficiencyprojects and that the system regulationmethod has a large impact on the overallsystem losses and hence its efficiency.Energy efficiency potential forthrottled systems with centrifugal pumpsis large and significant economicalsavings can be made through investmentswith short payback time..

EW26 is a Bachelor thesis carried out by students, Jessica Blomberg, Sara Danielsson and Mikael Johansson, during the academic year 2010-2011 at the Innovation Engineering Program of Halmstad University. The project was conducted in close cooperation with Ergosafe AB.Ergosafe develops, manufactures and sells electric sliding windows. Due to the company?s current expansion phase they want to increase their product range. The company has identified a need for large windows that moves vertically.

The electric vehicle market has potential to contribute to Sweden?s national goal to have a fossil fuel independent transport sector by 2030. However, the market answers to a lot of challenges making it difficult for the market to fully reach its potential. The volume of electric vehicles has seen a steady increase during the last year (2012), although many of these vehicles are mostly for PR purposes or bought by the public sector that wants to lead by example. Still, barriers in the form of high purchase costs, an anxiety for the limited battery capacity and the lack of standardisation are some of the problems that the market is struggling to solve.

IASB is currently working with the replacement of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. The new standard IFRS 9 Financial Instruments is said to be based on principles as opposed to the more rules-based IAS 39. This thesis examines the third phase of the project regarding micro hedge accounting. The expressed goal from IASB is to provide more useful hedge accounting information by reducing complexity of the standard. To examine the potential effects of the transition from the rules based IAS 39 to the more principles based IFRS 9, we have performed a case study on a major Swedish bank.

Testicular measurements and daily sperm output (DSO) are important factors affecting reproductive capacity of stallions. In the present study testicular measurements of 10 Swedish half-blood stallions were determined (height, length, width and volume). Ejaculates were collected from each stallion once daily for 10 days to evaluate some important seminal characteristics: gel-free ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, percent progressively motile spermatozoa and total number of spermatozoa (TSN). The gel-free ejaculate volume was measured with a graduated cylinder, the sperm concentration was counted in a Bürker chamber, the sperm motility was estimated in a phase-contrast microscope and TSN was determined by multiplying the gel-free seminal volume by the sperm concentration. Testicular measurements were as follows (left and right testis): height 7,5 cm and 7,8 cm, length 10,6 cm and 10,8 cm, width 6,5 cm and 6,6 cm, volume 278,2 cm3 and 293,8 cm3, scrotal width 12,3 cm and total testicular volume 572,0 cm3 .

Objective: In recent years there has been an increasing interest within the clinical (medical) science in measuring people?s health. When estimating quality of life, present practise is to use the EQ-5D questionnaire and an index which weighs the different questions. The question is what happens if the individuals estimate there own health, would it differ from the public preferences? The aim is to make a new prediction model based on the opinion of patients and compare it to the present model based on public preferences.Method: A sample of 362 patients with unstable coronary artery disease from the Frisc II trial, valued their quality of life in the acute phase and after 3, 6 and 12 months.

The aim of this thesis has been to examine how the risk for the swine flu was represented in the Swedish Radio news broadcast Ekot 16.45 during different phases of the pandemic in 2009. We wanted to study how the risk was described in different discourses and periods? Were the participants in the reporting calming or warning the listeners in relations to different aspects of the swine flu? What consequences for the community were reported in the broadcasting?To find the answers to our questions, we analysed 13 features about the swine flu broadcasted in Ekot?s main news broadcast Ekot 16.45. We used critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough.We identified four types of discourses in our text, a journalistic discourse, a medical discourse, a nationalistic discourse and an authority discourse. The main discourse was the medical one.

This thesis was conducted at AB Fredr Wagner in Ösmo in Nynäshamn, Sweden.AB Fredr Wagner provides solutions for the graphic industry and has been asked by acustomer to develop a product that can simplify handling of EUR-pallets, namely amechanical arrangement, further called pallet exchanger that can switch from anempty pallet to a fully loaded one using only hand force.The goal with the thesis was to create design documents for a pallet exchanger, andalso from those documents to manufacture a prototype for testing and evaluation.A field trip was made to the customer, IKAB mailing in Huddinge, where the palletexchanger is thought to be placed. The purpose of this field trip was to get an insightinto the current work condition and need of change, as well as to gather informationregarding the requirements when it comes to size and robustness of the palletexchanger. Existing equipment on the market that can perform similar tasks werestudied in order to find an optimal solution for the actual pallet exchanger.After the field trip and gathering of information the concept generating phase began.The method used for generating concepts was brainstorming. To decide on whichconcept to use, a concept selection matrix was created. The selection criteriaincluded in the matrix came from the requirements for the pallet exchanger.

 The theme of this essay arises from problematic pictures which travel journalism can bring about foreign countries, and in this specific case Mexico. These pictures can be problematic in the way that they can carry colonial elements and form colonial discourses. The main purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the Swedish travel magazines, Vagabond, RES and Allt om resor, and how they portray places and people in the written texts and photographs. This was done with a postcolonial and discourse theoretical framework, whereas empowerment of certain pictures can lead to formation of discourses, myths and stereotypes about places and people in Mexico. The method used to reveal different aspects of the travel reports was semiotic analysis, Norman Fairclough?s critical discourse analysis and critical linguistics.

Introduction: Studies have shown that women are not always satisfied with the effects of contraception and that contraceptive advice is perceived as non-specific. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate what contraceptive women have chosen to use in the different phases of their reproductive lives, and what they felt had influenced their choice. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional comparative study with a quantitative approach. A survey with fixed and multiple-choice options was sent to five hundred 45-year old women. Result: The study shows that various birth controls are different in the normal reproductive life.