Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a phase in the digital revolution connecting computing devices with each other bringing along new business opportunities for companies. Although being a fast growing field it has not been researched to any greater extent, particularly not within the academical literature. Consequently, information on how M2M can affect organisations seems strongly needed. This thesis uses three perspectives, derived from already recognised business benefits of M2M, as an aid to select proper theoretical tools to investigate the phenomenon. The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge of how an M2M adoption affects a firm?s organisation, customer offerings and customer relations.

This study describes what impact activity within Wifstas, Matfors,Grönstas and Nolbys water protection areas have on the quality of the drinkingwater. It considers the use of the area, environmentally dangerous activitiesin the past and present, the geology?s part, what harm hydroelectric power damsmay cause if they break and how climate change might affect the area in thefuture. It also takes into consideration activities outside the waterprotection areas which might have a suspected impact on the water quality. Theresults of the study are that pollution from infrastructure such as roads, orwastewater from treatment plants may cause occasional contamination of thedrinking water, foremost due to flooding.

This dissertation was made since we wanted to investigate the conception called quality within the school sector. What it means and if there is something that can give an explanation of how they  at look at the conception within the school sector. This will be the benchmark through the dissertation, trying to find out the most important things which might be equal to quality within the school.To find the answers of our questions we will read literature according to the subject. To get an increased understanding we will interview some people within the school efficacy, and give students a survey to fill in.The most important results from our investigation is to look at everything in its entirety, not only look at what grades students get. Even though this the most narrated sign of quality.

SJ is a government-owned passenger train operator in Sweden. SJ currently uses asystem called Ford for control and monitoring of maintenance. Technical andorganizational factors have given Ford the character of a monolithic system withoutflexibility and conditions to meet SJ's increased requirements.The main purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate how data quality can bedefined at SJ and to examine the data quality in Ford. This will give SJ an indication ofwhat their quality efforts should focus on in the future.The technical data quality parameters found are: accuracy, timeliness, completenessand consistency. The user centred data quality parameters are: accessibility,understandability and reliability.

Many persons with long-term illness experience a decline in their quality of life. Perceived Quality of Life is a subjective term based on prior personal experiences and is highly individual. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate perceived Quality of Life in persons with Multiple Sclerosis and to get knowledge if physical therapy changes a person?s quality of life. Three women and three men with a range of disability were interviewed in depth.

The main goal with the master thesis has been to do a status evaluation of the chain machinery with its start chain and wire to secure the production on a short basis due to that a reconstruction is not planned at this time. An evaluation of the condition of the start chain and the rollers in the chain depository has been done. An offer has been requested for a new start chain and the evaluation of the start chains may be a basis for the decision taking. The production has been able to go on, although it has arisen some problems which have been difficult to find the causes for. There is no gathered ?picture? of the machinery status and a mapping of each machinery has been compiled of comprehensive logs.

An increasing global population and a worldwide growing urbanization has raised the questionabout the future food security in cities all over the world. Peak-oil limits the access to cheap fossilfuels which threatens the global food-supply chain. This has resulted in a larger awareness anddiscussion related to urban agriculture. Growing crops and keeping animals within the city-borderscould be one way of creating a more robust and sustainable food supply for city dwellers. However,to enable an expansion of the urban agriculture many theorists argue that policies and institutionalstructures that supports and promotes city farming have to be developed.

Problembakgrund: Hur gör företagen för att upprätthålla en god relation med sina kunder? Hur klarar företagen att anpassa sig för att hålla god kvalitet och hantera logistiska problemlösningar med bibehållet goda relationer?Syfte: Att undersöka hur svenska livsmedelsproducenter gör för att förvalta och utveckla relationerna med sina kunder samt maximera kundnyttan genom ett logistiskt synsätt.Resultat: Båda leverantörerna anser att sitt respektive varumärke är starkt och att kunderna väljer varumärket före produkten. Kunderna å andra sidan säger att de väljer produkten före varumärket. Likheterna mellan de båda företagens arbetssätt är stora, förutom deras logistikstrategier. Det vill säga på vilket sätt som logistiken anses ge störst kundnytta i form av konkurrenskraft.Främsta skillnaden hos leverantörerna för att skapa mervärde åt kunden, är att Pågen arbetar med personliga relationer genom butikssäljarna.

This thesis has been made in cooperation with Forsheda Stålverktyg AB which develops and manufactures injection moulds and diecasting tools. The main concern has been their Trading-system which provides them with considerable amount of quality lost function.Focus has to however be put on the analysis of the Trading-system due to the fact that this has previously meant various quality issues for the company.This thesis treats quality assurance of the Trading-system, identification of the problems in the process and improvements of these problems.Quality assurance is carried out when a company detects that their quality based costs become too high. Quality based cost are? the costs that would disappear if a company's products and its different operational processes were absolute? (Sörqvist, 2001 p.30, free translation from Swedish). High quality based costs often result in increased quality problems, which can lead to substantial economic loss for the company.This work has resulted in a thorough review of the Trading-system whereupon problems have been identified.

Due to better nutrition, veterinary and overall care, pet dogs? lifespan has increased. With more old dogs we see more health problems associated with age, among those cognitive decline, leading to deficits in learning and memory, disorientation, anxiety and other altered behaviors. Cognitive decline can have severe negative impacts on the life of both dog and owner, when the dog for example forgets being housetrained or starts being awake at night. Two pet food manufacturers have developed food with specific ingredients in order to improve cognitive functions or delay the onset of cognitive impairment. Hill?s Pet Nutrition has developed a dog food with supplements of a broad spectrum of antioxidants and mitochondrial nutrients, aiming to diminish oxidative damage in the brain, thereby maintaining brain function and improving learning ability.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether some periods of declines in Swedish real credit can be explained by a credit crunch. Is it further possible, with these results, to do any conclusions about the banks behaviour in the on going financial crisis that has shadowed the country since 2007/2008? Method: A credit crunch is here defined as a period of supply-side restrictions on loans which doesn?t reflect the ongoing interest rates. By estimating a supply and demand function with a disequilibrium model the excess demand- and supply for credit due to different periods can be calculated. Conclusion: A credit crunch has been present during a period after the banking crisis of early 1990?s.

Today's industries are constantly evolving and the demands according to quality for products and services produced and performed are becoming more and higher. ISO 9001 is a standard that serves as a tool for organizations who wants to effectively control and manage their quality workforce on business different processes. A background to the introduction of a quality managementsystem towards Skärås svets och mekaniska in Västerås are that more and more customers demand this from a company to enable it to obtain an order of production.Efforts to introduce a quality system such as ISO 9001-2008 all begin with to carry out a situationanalysis of the business. Skärås svets och mekaniska currently has no existing quality management system so therefore there is no current directives regarding who is responsible, for a future certification in the business.By structuring a situation analysis of the business. You get a good overview of the business and how it is conducted today.

The boiling properties are an important quality issue of the potato. In order to obtain adequate boiling properties the growth of the potato needs to be controlled and interrupted at the right time. However, it is difficult to determine when to stop the growth. Specific gravity can easily be measured and can sometimes be used as a tool for estimating the boiling properties. This report discusses different aspects of the specific gravity of the potato and how it can be used as a tool to determine the appropriate time for vine killing.

The boiling properties are an important quality issue of the potato. In order to obtain adequate boiling properties the growth of the potato needs to be controlled and interrupted at the right time. However, it is difficult to determine when to stop the growth. Specific gravity can easily be measured and can sometimes be used as a tool for estimating the boiling properties. This report discusses different aspects of the specific gravity of the potato and how it can be used as a tool to determine the appropriate time for vine killing.

Problem och bakgrund: Fram till för ett antal år sedan fokuserade forskare inom Supply ChainManagement på frågor som miljö, säkerhet och sociala rättigheter separat, utan att titta på vadinteraktion mellan dessa frågor kunde innebära för företag. Sedan dess har mängder av akademiskaartiklar skrivits som behandlar hållbar utveckling sett ur ett helhetsperspektiv där ekonomiska,miljömässiga och sociala strategier behandlas tillsammans för att uppnå största möjliga nytta i företagsleverantörskedjor. Dessa har sedermera mynnat ut i ett koncept som benämns Sustainable SupplyChain Management (SSCM). I ljuset av detta ämnar rapporten besvara två frågor: (i) Vilkanyckelområden består ämnesdisciplinen SSCM av? och (ii) i vilken utsträckning arbetar svenskaföretag som anses vara goda exempel inom arbete med hållbar utveckling med SSCM i sinverksamhet?Syfte: Syftet med rapporten är att redogöra för vilka nyckelområden forskningsdisciplinen SSCMbestår av.