The environmental debate is more intensive than ever before and the demands on companies increase. There are a number of methods to make it easier for the companies to fulfil the demands. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) end ecodesign are some of the methods that can be used. Syntronic AB has the possibility to reduce the products´ environmental impact in the design phase. Therefore it is important for the company to make it possible to visualize the negative environmental impacts a product can cause in an easy way. It is also important to visualize for there clients if any improvement is possible. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a simplified model.

 The purpose of my study is to illumine the aesthetic learning process significant in the preschool. Focus has been on allowing educators in different preschools to answer questions valid the use of aesthetic learning processes. I chose to do my study using an opinion poll and a literature review. The result shows that the preschools use aesthetic learning processes and according to the educator?s aesthetic learning process is a very important tool for education in the preschool.  The notable in this study is that the educators have different views of what aesthetic means. The first view is that you only work with aesthetic subjects.

Babies born prematurely are deprived of normal sensorimotor stimulation when placed in an artificial environment, the incubator. The aim of this project was to design a series of products that could promote the baby?s emotional and neurological development, and to facilitate parental bonding. The products designed in this project has a theoretical basis on the research available today on cognitive and emotional development in children born prematurely. They were developed in close cooperation with a group of parents and nurses in a neonatal intensive care unit.Presence is a product collection for developmental care, consisting of a mattress, a figure and a necklace. The mattress has vibration sensors that transfer the mother?s heart beat and speakers with recorded heartbeat and her voice.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to look into how ex-offenders experience that stigmatization and labeling- processes might affect their possibilities to create an integrated and adapted life in society. It is also of interest to study how and if the interviewees experience their self-image to be affected by these processes. Our research-questions are:-          How do ex-offender males experience stigmatization and labeling-processes to impact their possibilities when trying to re-integrate into society?-          Do ex-offender males experience their self-image being affected by stigmatization and labeling-processes? If so, how are they affected? In order to achieve this we interviewed members of the organization KRIS in Örebro, where we selected males over 23 years of age with a prior prison sentence. The study is based on the labeling-theory of Howard Becker as well as the stigma-theory by Erving Goffman.In the conclusions derived from the results we found that the interviewees experience a more distinct and obvious stigmatization and labeling from authorities such as the police and the legal system, than that from other people in society.

Participation, public art and participatory public art as phenomenons and subjects have been studied and discussed. With interviews and observations as a base, we have studied projects and discussed participation, effect and quality in relation to these. Furthermore we have looked at how the participatory art processes work in Sweden and England. This essay seeks to discuss the process of participatory public art and to emphasize the elements contributing to the quality of this process. It is up to us as planners to recognize the possibilities for a qualitative place. To mediate between different interests, for example between politicians and stakeholders, between economics and quality, between the place and its users, between individuals and the community, and in our case between artists, users and the municipality. Public art has gone from being about the product, an art piece, to becoming more of a process, from non interactive to interactive. Participation ranges from receiving information to play an active part in the process. Four cases have been studied, taken both from Sweden and England, showing the diversity of processes connected to Participatory Public Art. From interviews conducted in Sweden and England information and thoughts have been received and they show a higher degree of use of participatory public art in England, and also a higher consciousness.

The purpose of this thesis is to study to what extent the UN millennium development goals have influenced Sweden?s development policy. The research method that I have used is a qualitative text analysis and I have studied the ideas in governmental texts and millennium development goals reports from 1995-2008.My hypothesis is that the basic ideas that has symbolized Sweden?s development policy has not changed much since the adoption of the millennium development goals in year 2000. This hypothesis is based on different ideas that the basic perspectives in international development policy are rather constant.My conclusion is that many of the areas that are affected by the millennium development goals already are prioritized areas within Swedish development policy, for example poverty reduction and gender equality.

Today´s roofing of dwelling houses is a very time consuming procedure, which includes a lot of different steps on the construction site. Not only does it cost a lot of money, but often do problems with rot and mold occur in the attics of houses today. The use of prefabricated modules has seen a great breakthrough in the field of construction of dwelling houses; at least when it comes to foundations and walls, where this type of approach makes the construction process way more efficient. What no one previous has succeeded to develop is a corresponding system for roofs that meets the demands of a dwelling house. Accordingly the goal of PlusTak has been to come up with a proper module system for roofing of dwelling houses, where the roofing is completed to meet the demands of the Scandinavian market. During the project a lot of effort has been put into customer contacts and the usability of the product, as well in the manufacturing process as on the construction site. This development has gone hand in hand with several practical tests and tryouts.

Since Sweden joined the European Union all Swedish fruit and vegetables are classified according to EU Quality standards. One important function is the product description and how it can facilitate the trade; for example in better comparing prices and also to guarantee the quality of the product. This quality standards or product descriptions are written as words of an Act and obligatory for all countries that has joined the EU. It?s often a demand from the customers to be certificated according to some of many certificating systems. One example is the common worldwide GLOBAL GAP-certification system created by the organisation EUREP which represents the leading European retail traders.

This master thesis has been written in collaboration with Science Park Jönköping and is based on a problem related to corporate innovation. Science Park Jönköping believes that there is an untapped potential in existing industry in the form of ideas that are never commercialized. These theories are also supported in the research in which other authors have perceived that the ideas and inventions which do not belong to the core business risk ending up in drawers. If more of these ideas could be spin-offs or other forms of enterprise instead of staying in the drawers it would lead to growth, both for companies and for the society in large.The purpose of the thesis work is to, based on the case Science Park Jönköping, analyze how science parks and incubators can support the commercialization of ideas that derive from industry, who otherwise had been left lying. The work began with a mapping of the Science Park Jönköping operations and the skills they possess, and then other initiatives that aim to commercialize more ideas from companies were examined.

During spring 2009 a three meter tall and laughing robot was developed in collaboration between Royal Institute of Technology and Royal University College of Fine Arts. The robots function and esthetics is based on an existing toy robot called Elmo. Elmo is 30 cm tall but now the goal was to make it 1000 times bigger in order to present it on the spring exhibition of Royal University College of Fine Arts. Due to only four months of developing and building time a demand of fast determination and good planning was required. In order to make a good structure for the project it is divided into five phases: Analysis of Elmo, planning, concept development, detail construction and finally product development and testing.In the first phase valuable knowledge is obtained according to the movements and geometry of Elmo.

Context: During the 21st century several alarming reports have been published that deals with the depletion and pollutant of the earth by human interference. The earth is an ending resource and so are the mountains and bedrocks which are continuously mined in order to harvest its minerals. The idea behind Urban Mining is to (re)invent processes enabling further purpose for materials both from old deposits and new products providing secondary raw materials and energy. This thesis aims to investigate the challenges and opportunities of how firms and organizations can and will be able to strike a better balance between product-/service systems, economic growth and environmental stewardship in the context of Urban Mining as an approach. With the innovation of processes, technology, business- planning and creation in focus.Objective: How to future proof a business model for Urban Mining by the usage of business model design.Method: This thesis will be conducted using a case study approach, meaning that it will incorporate qualitative, exploratory and descriptive characteristics - aiming towards enabling both applied and fundamental research.Results: The result evaluates the business model element differences between traditional C&D industry and Urban Mining industry.

This study explores how consumers' attitudes and intentions-to-buy towards an atypical product can be influenced by the presentation of the product and consumers shopping goals. Moreover, another product, which was shown together with the atypical piece, was analyzed in order to investigate context effects. The aim of the study is to provide insights into a rather unexplored subject and help retailers in presenting their assortment in a way which will create a better perception and intention-to-buy towards the assortment. The study was conducted with the help of two studies, the first one aimed to find an atypical item and to see how attitudes could be affected by differences in presentation by comparing it with a typical item within the same category. The second study used the identified atypical piece in order to see the how attitude and intention-to-buy could be altered by presentation and consumer shopping goals.

It is important, for companies operating on a homogeneous product market, to understand and adapt to customer needs. Since coffee is a homogeneous product in food retail it is vital for coffee companies to work extensively with differentiation and the fierce competition. The prevailing homogenity makes it difficult for companies to develop the product itself and must therefore work to create added value to the product.The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a study on consumer decision-making when purchasing homogeneous products, and to examine how companies work to strengthen their brand and gain market share in a homogeneous product market. The market that this thesis highlights is the coffee market.To answer the purpose of this thesis the writers have conducted a questionnaire survey regarding consumers? decision-making process and interviewed two marketing managers for two major actors on the coffee market.

As changes occur more frequently in IT- and software development, it is important for the companies to meet the demands and needs of its customer. The companies have to be able to adapt themselves continuously in order till fulfill its customers changing needs in an effective way, which results in big changes of the companies? structures. The more traditional way of working is often replaced with more alternative approaches as a response to the reputable deficiencies of its predecessors. As an effect of the rapid change and development some companies now see big potential in switching to more Agile and flexible methods and some companies have no choice but to change their way of working.

A product and design development of a household device which shall dry food waste has beencarried out in collaboration with Smedlund Miljösystem AB.This project has been implemented through several brainstorms and a questionnaire study.A great insight of how it is to work in a project in real work life has this project been givenme. This is a slightly less straight road to a conclusion than in the academic world that I amused to..