The aim of this master thesis is to measure library service quality in two groups of libraries, newly developed and well established, and to see if there are any differences in the users perception of the dimensions in LibQUAL+. The thesis also examines the different perception of quality for the user groups: undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. Another approach is to test the Swedish translation of LibQUAL+. Different theories on service quality are presented but the main theories are from the marketing perspective. The grounding and development of LibQUAL+ is described as well as the use of the instrument in different libraries.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether accounting quality is a priced factor by investors. The event studied is the release of year-end result and the release of the annual report. To assess accounting quality a sample of 30 companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2003 to 2007 are studied. We assess accounting quality by the absolute size of discretionary accruals using the modified Jones model developed by Dechow et al. (1995).

AbstractIn 1998 the Swedish legislation was sharpened, and active educationalists were legally bound to report any suspicion of child maltreatment. Nevertheless, there are a number of unrecorded cases of maltreated children, and research reveals that less than half of these children are reported to social services (Olsson, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to illustrate the problems with the mandatory reports in schools, as well as to study how educationalists proceed when they suspect that a child is maltreated. The method consisted of semi-structured interviews with five educationalists. The results revealed complex problems regarding educationalists mandatory reports.

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe how politicians and directors of care define and experience quality in aged care facilities. Further on we wanted to compare on which fundamental principles the participants base their opinion about quality and how they work with quality. To reach our aim we conducted five interviews with politicians and directors of care. The results show that it is hard to determine quality in an unambiguous and objective way. Quality in aged care appears to be about relations and encounters amongst people.

This examination paper concerns how a organization can reach right quality. In this case the focus is on the communication of the soft product quality within an organization to achieve right quality. To fulfill the aim of this study a case company has been used to be able to show the absence in the topic. The questions of the study are: How have the customer?s needs been communicated within the organization? What absences are there today concerning the communication of the customer?s needs within the organization? How can the communication of the customer?s needs within the organization improve?The aim of this study is to describe and analyse how the transmitting of the customer?s needs concerning soft product quality is made today in the case company and to reach any improving suggestions.

The purpose of this study is to discover and explain the influences of media coverage of organizational crises on crisis communication, and vice versa. The study also shows how mediated crises develop, and how media framing and news sources affect this development.Carried out as a case study of three Swedish mediated crises, the methods used are quantitative and qualitative content analysis of media content from four Swedish newspapers and four organizations' press releases from the studied crises.Mediated crises develop through their specific pattern regardless of, but not independent from, the organizations' crisis communication. The crisis communication is used as an elite source in media reporting from the crises, but it can not control the mediated crises. However, it influences framing, and the possibilities to influence media reporting are better in the pre-crisis phase and the culmination..

Fastighetsregistret (The Cadastre) is a large and important information sourcesupplied by Lantmäteriet (the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registrationauthority). Fastighetsregistret provides geographical information about the 3.2 millionestates in use in Sweden. Fastighetsregistret has a large number of users who trustthat the provided data is reliable, but experience shows that the data can have varyingquality. As a user it is not always possible to access more detailed information inorder to assess to what extent the data in Fastighetsregistret is reliable.The purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate the possibilities of a system with agraphical user interface that present, classify and visualize the quality of the data inFastighetsregistret. The defined user group for this suggestion is internal users atLantmäteriet who have a good understanding of Fastighetsregistret.

The aim of this thesis was to analyse BARO WOOD AB:s timber measuring and quality sorting and to evaluate the analyse program Stockholmen. The purpose was to get a better understanding for the quality sorting made at BARO WOOD AB today, analyse differences in center board quality from logs with a good quality and logs with a bad quality, suggest new sorting criterias developed from analyses made with Stockholmen and to evaluate the program Stockholmen. All analyses are based on data gathered in a test sawing made at BARO WOOD AB in June and July 2002. The test sawing was made on four different diameter classes and every diameter class consisted out of A or M-grade logs, with a better quality, and B-grade logs with a lesser quality. The logs where sorted out with BARO WOOD AB:s existing quality criterias.

All companies wants? to be as profitable as possible. The company in question is one of the leaders in it´s field in Sweden. In order to increase profits as much as possible it is important to identify and eliminate eventual quality defect cost as far as possible.This study was performed in Huddig AB, and the purpose of this study is to try to develop a routine for monitoring the quality defect costs, and to improve communication and create feedback between production and aftermarket.In addition to an extensive literature review on quality defect costs most of the work have been conducted at the company. Own observations and interviews have been done with the staff to get a picture of the current situation and to try to come up with improvement proposals.During the study it was proved that much of the quality defect costs in essence, derived from the production, which is seen as positive because it is the easiest part of the company to improve.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.

The aim of the study was to describe how managers at the eldercare system especially in nursing homes work to ensure high quality care. For this purpose, a qualitative method was used in this study and four managers at nursing home have been interviewed. Previous studies have shown that managers in some cases are restricted in their actions and that this may slow down the improvement of the care. At the same time the managers describe their work as demanding and diverse. They have a significant staff responsibility, meaning that they have to ensure the quality of care.

The increasing public concern regarding the government?s priorities in spending public resources puts pressure on public organisations to address quality issues in their practice. In United Kingdom both BRTF (Better Regulation Task Force) (BIS, 2005b) and the Hampton report (BIS, 2005a) highlighted management and quality problems in public organisations in UK. These reports revealed obstacles within institutions? intent to offer recommendations and appropriate solutions for agencies working with legal enforcement and control.

The aim of the study was to describe how women and men with diagnosed heart disease experience their health-related quality of life and what differences there is between genders in their quality of life and also describe problems after receiving the diagnosis. The study also aimed to describe rehabilitation of patients with heart disease. The study was a descriptive literature study based on scientific articles. It emerged that both women and men with heart disease experienced lower quality of life compared to normative data. There was a significant difference between women and men both one year and three years after receiving the diagnosis heart disease, which showed that women experienced lower quality of life than men.

The purpose of this paper is to study how Swedish CFOs perceive that the requirement for companies to issue quarterly reports affect business operations in the company. The fact that it is regulations on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and not the law, that requires companies to issue quarterly reports makes Sweden unique in Europe. The paper is based on interviews with CFOs from 32 companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The major finding in the study is that a majority of the CFOs perceive that the pressure for short term results, created by quarterly reports, affect their work and the investment decisions made in the company. Also CFOs feel that the market over interprets the information given in quarterly reports.