Evaluating and choosing suppliers based on price alone, has traditionally been the dominant strategy for supplier selection within the purchasing function. With the origin of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)-concept in the early 1990s, a new philosophy dawned that promoted the importance of knowing the effects of supplier performance on the buying firm?s internal costs. Since then, scholars have been arguing the case of TCO as a viable model for making purchasing decisions and conducting supplier evaluation. Still, after two decades little is known about its penetration and impact on the practices of buying corporations, leaving the questions of which costs are included in the purchasing organisations? decisions unanswered, and even more importantly why certain costs are considered and others not.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how teachers work and reflects on gender education in preschools. We also want to take part of how teacher?s thoughts are reflected in the physical indoor environment and how the environment is designed by reviewing the rooms furnishing and the selected materials. We will do this by visiting a number of preschools located in Stockholm and New York. We have chosen three questions to get the answers on our purpose.How teachers reflect around gender pedagogy are, and how the thoughts are expressed in the practical work.How the teachers communicate with their co-workers about gender pedagogy.How the teachers own thoughts and reflections on gender pedagogy have been expressed in the physical indoor environment where the children stay during the day. We have used interviews and observations as a method to gather the information that we needed to answer our questions of the thesis.

Strategies for the board game Hive was implemented and evaluated in this project. The report covers the rules as well as the system that was implemented in order to build strategies. The strategies are evaluated based on how they perform against each other. Two search algorithms were implemented: Minmax and Alpha-Beta Pruning. Alpha-Beta with depth 4 had the best performance against other strategies as well as in individual tests..

Earlier attempts at mechanising pre-commercial thinning have been met with varying degrees of success. Most attempts have been based on techniques where residual stems are straddled. Early treatment is essential to limit damage on residual trees. One part of the present study is an evaluation of mechanised pre-commercial thinning using the new Vimek 404R. Vimek 404R is a fairly small machine that permits selective removal of stems, making it potentially suitable also for areas overdue for pre-commercial thinning. The study established the level of performance for the machine, as well as the improvement needed to make it an economically viable option.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate nurses? experiences of communicating with patients with immigrant backgrounds regarding language barriers, patient relations and use of interpreter. Method: Eight persons participated in this study. Four registered midwives were interviewed in a focus group and one clinical lecturer with a district nursing background, one midwife and two district nurses were individually interviewed about their experiences. The content was analysed using a qualitative content analysis.

The doctrine of traditio is the main rule for the buyer?s protection against the sellers?s creditors in the Swedish legal system. This means that the buyer have to take physical possession of the property in order to be protected against the sellers?s creditors if the seller becomes bankruptcy or is hit by an execution. If instead the doctrine of consensus applied the buyer is protected as soon as a valid contract is formed.

This thesis processes the work of developing CPU code and GPU code for Thomas Kaijsers algorithm for calculating the kantorovich distance and the performance between the two is compared. Initially there is a rundown of the algorithm which calculates the kantorovich distance between two images. Thereafter we go through the CPU implementation followed by GPGPU written in CUDA. Then the results are presented. Lastly, an analysis about the results and a discussion with possible improvements is presented for possible future applications..

Mediation of fiction has always been one of the main tasks of the public library. The focus on information technology is often seen as a threat and competitor to this task. But technology can also offer new ways to mediate fiction, and the aim of this thesis is to examine how library websites and blogs can be used for this purpose. The research questions are:? What forms of fiction mediating material exist on library websites and blogs?? How is the fiction mediating material presented?? Are there any differences between the fiction mediating working methods on websites and blogs compared with those in physical libraries?The thesis is based on a qualitative content analysis of eight Swedish public library websites and three blogs, and on a theoretical frame work including literature and research on mediation of fiction, library websites and blogs, web design and usability.

Background: Research has shown that people with limited hand function , and above all osteoarthritis of the thumbs , a limited task ability in daily activities. At a disabilities can be the person's identity, well-being and ability to participate in society is changing. Purpose: The purpose is, through a literature review describing occupational therapy Conservative interventions for people with osteoarthritis of the CMC 1 joint and its consequences for the performance of activities of daily living . Procedure and Analysis: The method in this study, a systematic review of scientific literature used. Database search and manual search occurred during the period from March 2014 to May 2014 .

The aim of this study was to describe how adolescents experiences their quality of life, and tocompare if there are any differences in how they experiences their QOL depending on wherethey live, big town or smaller town. The aim was also to examine how adolescentsexperienced their schooling. The study is empirically, quantitative with a descriptive andcomparative design. To measure quality of life a tried and tested instrument ? LifeSatisfaction Questionnaire (LSQ) was used.

A Swedish electronics company wants to make the cooling of one of their electronic components more efficient. They propose that a retrofit liquid cooler is the way to achieve this goal. The current air cooling has high energy cost due to the high amount of power needed to power fans and heat exchangers. Using high volumes of air for cooling also leads to noise pollution. The conversion from air to liquid cooling would possibly make the operation of the electronics more cost efficient and less noisy.The purpose of this project is to theoretically evaluate different concepts of drawing the heat generated by the electronic component in to a fluid, using numerical calculations in Matlab and FEM simulations in ANSYS.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the world and it usually affects elderly women. However, there are between 600-700 cases per year in Sweden where women under the age of 45 are diagnosed. Removal of the breast or part of the breast, hair loss, fatigue and nausea as a result of the breast cancer treatment has an emotional and physical impact on the women?s lifeworld. The nurse should build a relationship with the women to identify and meet their needs. Aim: To describe younger women?s experiences of getting a breast cancer diagnosis and life afterwards.Method: Four biographical books were analyzed to match the aim of the study.Result: The findings were that the women experience similar thoughts and feelings when it comes to living with a cancer diagnosis.

Motivation is a key factor in sustaining a healthy and active lifestyle, and technology has afforded us new methods for attaining information concerning exercise and health. This paper aims to examine how social media can motivate individuals to obtain and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle, as well as identify which particular social media channels are preferred for this purpose. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used as data collection in this research. The results of this report show that images and text shared on social media, as well as the communication therein, can function as motivation for individuals to commence and maintain a regular physical activity and health regimen. Additionally, an individual?s sharing of their own training and health routine is enough to motivate the person in question to sustain their training and health procedure.

The purpose of this study is to examine if digital public libraries are serendipitous environments. Serendipity in this instance is defined as finding something unexpected and valuable, while searching for something else.A survey was conducted at two Swedish digital public libraries, where the patrons were asked to fill in a questionnaire online. The questions were based on the work on serendipitous digital environments by Lori McCay-Peet, as well as considerations of human factors that could possibly influence serendipity.The result indicate that a majority of patrons experience serendipity at the digital library, although it?s still more common to do so at the physical library or on other web sites. The result also confirms the importance of taking human factors into account when studying serendipity.

Threats and violence, or the risk of being subjected to threats and violence in the workplace, is a major health and safety problems that exists in many professions. To be exposed to threats and violence can have serious consequences for the employee's health but also for the organization in question. The aims of this study was to investigate the prevalence of threats and violence at the Swedish Migration Board detention, and to examine whether there were health problems among employees who may be exposed to threats and violence. A web-based questionnaire was answered by 29 employees (response rate = 51 percent). The results showed that more employees had been exposed to verbal threats (66 percent), compared to physical violence (10 percent), and they showed a greater tendency to report physical violence, as opposed to verbal threats.