Quality Assurance in Service Procurement --- Total Quality and Total Quality Management refer to popular management philosophies in organizations these days. The purchasing department has an important part in the strive for organizational quality as several studies show corporate spend is significant and increasing. In this master thesis I study the actions companies take to ensure quality in service procurement. I argue that managing quality when sourcing services is particularly tricky, because of the special characteristics that belong to services. The purpose of the study is to examine whether different actions are taken to ensure the quality of different kinds of services.

  AbstractAnne Reese: Under oändliga lovsånger sannerligen med rinnande tårar ?  sångerna vid den heliga Katarinas translation. Uppsala universitet: Institutionen för musikvetenskap, uppsats för 60 p. 2005.The aim of this essay is to contribute to the knowledge about one of Sweden's greatest religious events during the late Middle Ages, the translation of Catherine of Sweden. By collecting and examining the chants used at Catherine's translation it is possible to see what kinds of music was used at this occasion and also to determine some thing about how and why these chants were chosenBy using manuscripts containing the chants which are close to the occasion in time and place, the melodies and texts are presented in the versions most likely to have been those used in the translation.

This report presents a thesis project at the School of Engineering, Jo?nko?pingUniversity, where the task has been to develop a proposal for a parish communitycentre for the Swedish church?s parish community in Bankeryd.Background1 st of November in 2004 the parish in Bankeryd appointed a special commissionof inquiry called Framtidsgruppen (Future Group), to analyse the parishcommunity?s different activities during the past 5 years and analyse the futureactivities and needs for the upcoming 5-10 years. This analysis would underlie theneeds of building a new centre for the parish community.Implementation, results and conclusionThe main focal points which this report is concentrated on has been to develop abuilding that is well suited for the activities, well adjusted for disabled persons andthe building shall be appealing in an architectural point of view.Based on the information provided from the parish community, studies ofliterature, reference objects and discussions with the contact person at the parishcommunity and the instructor of this project, the programming has beendeveloped. The building?s programming has been the source for the continuedwork with floor plans and the building design..

Purpose/Aim: The aim of this thesis was to examine how multi channel publishing in different stages effect the work for journalists.Material/Method: The thesis is based on ten case studies selected from the literature and one conducted especially for this thesis. The case studies have been categorized according to a model that describes three strategies for multi channel publishing. The first strategy is to have a primary publishing channel, the second is to have separate editorial staffs for all publishing channels and the third is to treat all publishing channels equally.Main results: Journalists working for companies using the first strategy have not experienced any major differences in working conditions or work practices. For journalists employed by companies using the second strategy for multi channel publishing the effects on the journalists was noticeable but not major. The effects on journalists in companies using the third strategy are mainly stress and an uncertainty regarding how to use special media techniques..

Sandahl, Sture och Sjödin, Anna. (2005). Den odefinierade specialpedagogiken. (The undefined special education.) Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Specialpedagogisk påbyggnadsutbildning, Lärarutbildningen, Malmö högskola. Syftet med följande arbete är att kartlägga de föreställningar rektorer har om elever i behov av särskilt stöd och specialpedagogisk kompetens när de fattar beslut som berör det specialpedagogiska verksamhetsområdet. I arbetet ges läsaren en teoretisk genomgång om bland annat specialpedagogik, kategoriskt och relationellt perspektiv, ledarskap och skolutveckling samt en teori baserad på Foucaults tankar om avvikelse ? normalitet och maktstrukturer, som ligger till grund för bearbetandet av våra slutsatser.

Denna studie syftar till att fördjupa förståelsen för skolsituationen hos elever i behov utav särskilt stöd, de elever som utgör diskussion i elevhälsoteam samt de elever som har någon form av diagnos. Studien antar en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Skolsituationen hos elever i behov utav särskilt stöd undersöks utifrån ett lärarperspektiv. Resultaten visar att elevernas identitetsskapande kännetecknas av individualitet. Centrala aspekter av elevernas identitetsskapande är vilken typ av svårigheter som eleven har och vilket stöd eleven får.

The highly toxic man-made substance referred to as dioxin (polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs)) causes severe health damages both to humans and other organisms, with lethality as its worst. Because of the toxicity several risk assessments has been performed on dioxins trying to determine at what concentration there are no risk of exposure. Resent years of research has discovered that these substances are not only anthropogenically but also producedin natural processes, like volcanoes and forest fires. To investigate if there is a need to take these naturally formed dioxins into account in the risk assessment processes, interviews with persons at relevant institutions in Sweden has been made. Analyses of existing risk assessment methods and political documents were also made to complete the picture.

People with Down syndrome are living longer lives today thanks to medical science. These people with their families are in need of assistance from goverments and professionals throughout their lives. It is therefore important to understand how familymembers affected by having a person with Down syndrome in the family. In this paper we focus on the siblings' experience. This study aims to examine four women's experiences of what it is like to have a sibling with Down syndrome and how the respondents have developed their role and identity as siblings, and what strategies they have developed for this role.

Kulturvårdscentrum was a project that had great significance for local folklore societies in Bohuslän.Bohusläns museum was i charge of the project that lasted from 1987 until about 2001 when most ofthe original staff have retired. The staff was mainly recruited from a large shipyard, Uddevallavarvet,at it's closure due to recession. Financing was largely made by the government to help outthose unemployed who otherwise should have a hard time finding a new job. At start there was about25 employees who where trained for one year by staff from Swedish museums, conservation studios,and teachers the university. The education was aimed at serving local folklore societies, and dealingwith their special problems.

Hedge funds? importance within the financial system has during the most recent years increased dramatically. These special funds are unique instruments that differ from traditional mutual funds in a variety of ways, however especially in how they expect returns. Due to the fact that hedge funds are able to hold short positions they possess the possibility to become market neutral investment vehicles.Because of this possibility to sustain positions neutral to market fluctuations, the concept of absolute returns became a unique selling point for hedge fund managers and promises of stable returns unchallenged by market conditions was assured. This research paper aims to examine the theory of absolute returns in hedge funds by examining hedge funds from the Nordic region during the last years of economic turmoil that has occurred by  analyzing the results from their strategies, partially by quantitative measurements as well as qualitative.  The results show that none of hedge fund strategies managed to deliver absolute returns over the chosen period..

During 2001-2002 a prototype, IMIS (Integrated Mobile Information System) was developed at BTH (Blekinge University of Technology) to demonstrate how mobile IT-systems can be used in healthcare. The prototype was based on the activity theory of Engeström. An ongoing project started in spring 2003. The purpose of the project is further development of IMIS with special focus in the diabetes healthcare. Participants in the project are scientists and students at BTH, ALMI Företagspartner, Blekinge FoU-enhet, Barndiabetesförbundet Blekinge, Blekinge Diabetesförening, Vårdcentralen Ronneby and Vårdcentralen Sölvesborg.

Syftet med följande arbete var att undersöka lekarbetspedagogers uppfattning om lekarbetets betydelse, när det gäller utveckling och lärande hos barn till utlandsfödda föräldrar, utanför Skandinavien. Vi analyserade vårt arbete utifrån ett salutogent perspektiv. Arbetet ger en översikt över lek, lekarbete och lekarbetspedagogik. Med hjälp av intervjuer undersökte vi lekarbetspedagogers inställning till lekarbetets betydelse för barn till utlandsfödda föräldrar. Vi tog också reda på intervjupersonernas uppfattning om det fanns något område hos barn som utvecklades särskilt positivt under lekarbetet.

International studies show that literacy skills have deteriorated among Swedish students. Empirical evidence states that before being able to learn to read it is important to have phonological awareness. From this perspective, an intervention study was launched to examine whether pupils´ phonological awareness could be enhanced through the work of a special model during a limited time. The aim of the study is to investigate whether six pupils in preschool develop phonological awareness based on Bornholmsmodellen during a limited period of time. The control group was made up of the remaining pupils in the preschool class.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what objects that can be seized and how the management of a seizure should be conducted. Ability to take enforcement against an individual should be carefully weighed against the rights and freedoms that exist. Seizure is one of the various restraints that exist, and the regulation on which they appear is mainly in the Code of Judicial Procedure, Chapter 27th. To be able to apply coercive measures, it is fundamental prerequisite that a criminal investigation is initiated, but there exist some significant exceptions to this. There are also rules about who has the right to provide for the seizure, the decision can be taken by a prosecutor, an investigator, a police officer or, in special cases, the court.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur speciallärare/specialpedagoger tolkar den medicin-ska diagnosen språkstörning utifrån ett logopedutlåtande och hur detta tar sig uttryck i arbetet med lärare och elever.Teori: Denna kvalitativa studie är inspirerad av en hermeneutisk ansats. Hermeneutiken hand-lar om att tolka och förstå. Det finns flera sätt att förstå världen eller en viss företeelse på. Inom hermeneutiken studeras tolkning av texter och ett huvudtema är att meningen hos en del enbart kan förstås om den sätts i samband med helheten.Metod: Kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med fem speciallärare/specialpedagoger i en mindre kommun i södra Sverige. Frågor ställdes utifrån ett logopedutlåtande som erhållits av en logoped och samtliga intervjuer registrerades genom ljudupptagning via en diktafon.