In our everyday life we are constantly affected by sound; at home, on our way to and from work, when taking a walk through the woods and when we sleep. In discussions about sound one often talk about noise and to what degree a certain noise disturbs us. The positive qualities of a sound and what sounds contribute to the experience of a good environment is rarely discussed. The question of sound and the quality of sound is given more attention through the expansion of Stockholm, the city is becoming both bigger and more crowded. This raises new questions concerning the planning of the city e.g. should the changes of the sound quality in a place be one of the aspects taken into consideration when planning new buildings, are there ways to improve the sound quality in new building projects? Can we even improve the quality of sound in existing places by simple means? I have chosen to study four different areas in Stockholm; Hötorget, Mariatorget, Berzeliipark and Norrmalmstorg.

Heartwood has always been a desirable part of the tree, due to it?s superior decay qualities com-pared to the sapwood. How the formation of heartwood works has been known for a long time, but which factors that initiates and stimulates the production are poorly understood. This case study presents the results of a study in which silvicultural treatments and site properties had a key position as factors to the formation of heartwood. According to the hypothesis the amount of sapwood is directly controlled by the size of the crown.

With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

Documentation in electronic journals is perceived as time consuming and sometimes technically difficult to handle, but also leads to an improved quality of care. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' perceptions of documentation with a focus on timing, technique and quality of care and whether any differences in these perceptions were dependent on age. Method: Quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study in the survey form, 28 nurses at a university hospital in central Sweden participated in the study. Regression analysis was performed with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: Electronic documentation takes 30 to 60 minutes for most nurses and half of them considered it a reasonable time.

Old people's life situation when receiving municipal help and care in theirlast period of life is sparsely investigated from their own perspective. Thepurpose of this study was focused on the thoughts of the aged people andtheir personal experiences on what quality is within the geriatric care. Inthis qualitative study, 10 elderly people aged 75-90 years wereinterviewed from 3 different nursing homes within Solna Municipality.Qualitative interviews, with the emphasis on their present life situationespecially what brought about a good life, were performed. The interviewswere analysed using qualitative content analysis. The implication of theterm ?meaningful existence? is individual and differs from person toperson.

Ever since it was first introduced in an article in the Journal of Finance 1952, Harry Markowitz? mean - variance model for portfolio selection has become one of the best known models in finance. The model was one of the first in the world to deal with portfolio optimization mathematically and have directly or indirectly inspired the rest of the world to develop new portfolio optimization methods. Although the model is one of the greatest contributions to modern portfolio theory, critics claim that it may have practical difficulties. Partly because the Markowitz model is based on various assumptions which do not necessarily coincide with the reality.

The purpose of this study was to investigate produced laser data from the new national height model's airborne laser scanning in Sweden, what quality it has and whether it can be used for forest management planning. From airborne laser scanning one can obtain information on forest variables such as tree species, height, diameter and basal area. Norra skogsägarna is the principal employer of this project and they wanted know to the quality of the laser data which needs to cope with their standards. If the laser data the quality required it can replace some of the operations performed by field planners. To examine the quality of the produced laser data a control tax assessment has been performed in 30 forest departments. This was done in an objective manner.

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 three purposes. The first purpose is to give a theoretical background of how to divide up forest estates and to study how the legal system for these matters works. A literature study has been carried out to give the background and a theoretical model has been made for analysing the law cases. The first purpose also partly touched the decision process in dividing up forest estates from point of view of the law of land parcelling (FBL), point of view. The second purpose is to examine effects of a change of production requirements in 3 cap.7 § FBL as regards dividing up forest estates of private forest owners.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att sammanställa maskinkostnader för etableringsmetoderna plöjningsfritt och konventionellt. Vi vill även titta på hur stor kapacitet som behövs på maskinparken för den tänkta gården på 600 ha åker, detta för att hinna etablera grödan inom ett rimligt tidsspektra. Anledningen till att vi valt ett företag på 600 ha är att det är den areal tröskan klarar av att avverka inom rimlig tid. Det medför att vi måste ta en del hänsyn till lägligheten och hur mycket av tiden som är så kallat ?tjänligt väder?.

The aim of this Master?s thesis was to find out more about the delimiting quality- and shelf-life parameters over time for liquid oat-based products. According to that, to present applicable subjective and objective shelf-life test approaches at accelerated conditions. The study aimed to gain a deeper knowledge concerning the general and accepted way of performing accelerated storage tests. This study focused especially on products, which suffer from quality failure caused by oxidation, such as liquid oat-based products.

This study will chart the changeover work, with a standpoint in the SMED-theory, at the company Peter Ernst AB in Värnamo. They are suppliers in plastic moulding industry and delivers to amongst other Saab in Trollhättan and Scania. The company are in a very competitive market, and they have to make manufacturing more efficient and rationalise their costs to be able to compete. A big problem, which the company has identified, is their long changeovers. It brings higher costs, a more stressful work climate and holds back the company from becoming more efficient.Field studies will be conducted on the changeover, which will be observed and filmed.

AbstractThis bachelor?s thesis at the Department of Production Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm deals with the subject of automated metrology. The degree of automation of tasks within production has been a growing trend but the measurement of quality has not followed the same trend. The main thesis follows:What incentives are there to automate the measurement of quality in production?What factors are crucial and why are not all metrology automated?The thesis comes along with a number of sub-queries and delimitations.The working method includes both theoretical and empirical studies.

The costs of logging and of transportation with truck are dominating the total cost of wood delivered at industry. To support the profitability for the members' forestry the processing and handling with the timber has to be as efficient as possible. Increased length of pulpwood in thinning is one conduct that can result in higher productivity and/or lower costs. The study is scaled as a system analysis with the aim to exemplify the differences between working with 3- and 4-meter as standard length of pulpwood, related to biological aspects, timber receipts, cost of logging and cost of transportation with truck. Important aspects are if the change is technically and biologically feasible and economically profitable.

The cost of construction projects have increased during the past few years. Different actors in the construction industry work together to advocate various measures to mitigate these cost increases. One of these measures is to try to improve the efficiency in the phase of production. By striving for a kind of standardization with a constant quest for improvement, the productivity can increase while the costs of production fall.For this thesis has a case study been conducted at the construction company JM AB which is seeking this. They call the approach structured production and have implemented various measures to achieve a more productive output.Based on information from reconciliations, the cost and the spent hours of craftsmen have been analyzed at the company where the case study took place.