In early January 2010 the authors participated in a meeting with the chief engineer for a company in which a central part is manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCB). At this meeting it emerged that the machinery and production methods have changed substantially since the early 1990's. The spreadsheet for preliminary production time calculations by the company is today based on conditions from almost 20 years ago. The company has over the years been trying to adjust the spreadsheet template. The result of these adjustments has filled it with historical residue, something which makes the template difficult and time consuming when the primary user tries to handle it.The purpose of this study was to help the company increase its accuracy in the representation of the production times for the different PCB-based products by developing a new costing model based on an already existing but inadequate spreadsheet template. The company also expressed the wish that the new costing model would be less time consuming to work with.The methods used to achieve the goal are interviewing, participatory observations and meetings with relevant persons. The data obtained were analyzed using the theory on PCB production and visualization of data.

We got in contact with Marco AB, who we?ve had contact with before concerning earlier projects, to find out if they were interested in arranging a larger project for our last class (Examensarbete 15hp). They were very positive to this proposition, and soon they offered us a project regarding reconstruction of their current mechanical device that absorbs all the force from the lift itself when it is at a predefined level (sv. sjunkspärr). The current solution does fulfill the requirements that are given, however it is not a solution that gives a high level of satisfactory.

Ett företag med ett flertal leverantörer måste på sikt välja ut vilka leverantörer man önskar arbeta aktivt/passivt med. För att kunna göra detta krävs att man tar fram konkurrenskraftiga leverantörsstrategier som bygger på välgenomtänkta beslut. Dessa beslut måste ta hänsyn till inköpets totala risk för leverantör och komponent. Den totala risken är oftast väldigt specifik för varje företag och bygger på ett flertal olika parametrar. Författarna ger i denna uppsats förslag på tre parametrar som kan hjälpa företag att ta fram effektiva leverantörsstrategier.

The aim of this study is to understand the collaboration at a child investigation and the actions that may be encountered as a result of the investigation, based on the Social Secretaries experiences of collaboration with other agencies such as schools, police, health visitor and child psychiatry. In the study, eight social workers from different municipalities was interviewed at a total of six occasions. One of the occasions was a group interview with three social workers at the same time. Through the interviews, it appears that the collaboration has an important role in social work and the necessity is something that manifests itself in the social secretaries stories but also in the earlier research done in this area. The results show that social workers extensively want to interact but that the purpose of interaction varies depending on the nature of the matter.

The purpose of this work is to find out what female students think about Skogsmästarprogrammet (Forest Management ? Bachelor?s Programme) at the Swedish University of Agriculture. The programme has existed since 1945 and in total over the years 1974 - 2007 about 10 % females have been studying at the programme. Today 15 % of the students are women, and the goal is to reach at least 30 %. The central question in the present work is to investigate how it is possible to increase the proportion of women.

Background: Investors have several options to choose from when the goal is to achieve the highest yield at the lowest cost and risk. Stocks are a common investment options, but is also associated with risks. Portfolios are usually constructed with several different assets to reduce the unsystematic risk of investment. Funds are similar to composite stock portfolios, the big difference is that they dealt with in their entirety and investors may not affect the fund's content. The problem remains that whether you choose stocks or mutual funds there is still uncertainty as to how the future will unfold.

Two post milkning teat dips (PMTD´s) were compared in an automatic milking system at Kungsängen Research Farm, owned by SLU (Swedish University of Agriculture) in Uppsala. In the experiment an evaluation system was used where teat condition regarding skin and teat ends was graded according to a scale where 1 was the best score and 5 the worst. The evaluation period was almost six months in total devided into four minor experimental periods. The technician scoring the teats did not know which PMTD that was currently used. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the two PMTD´s regarding teat skin condition, but not regarding teat ends.

To regularly remove woody vegetation along the roadside of forest roads is an important part of the road maintenance, since the vegetation binds moisture in the road side and, thus, the removal makes the road drying faster with results in improved bearing capacity. Vegetation removal also makes it easier to upgrade the road by material recycling from the ditch and, moreover, the visibility along the road is maintained.The aim of the study was to evaluate what type of chain flail is the best and most cost-effective for removal of different kind of woody vegetation along forest roadsides.Time studies were made on two chain flails when removing woody vegetation in three different classes; easy-, middle- and heavy shrub removal. The studied flails were one light and rather simple flail named Optimal M160 and a heavier and more advanced flail named Slagkraft H210. The removal was made according to Holmen Skogs? specification and the quality of the cleaning was measured by objective belt inventory.The productivity was higher with the heavy flail within all cleaning classes.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of sensory modality on short-term memory recall. An exploratory, cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 119 individuals participated. There were 70 female and 49 male subjects, aged 4 to 80 years (M=34,3). The participants were presented with 12 different objects in auditory, visual or auditory/visual mode over a period of 24 seconds.

A uniform environmental rating system for green buildings is demanded in today's society, where the requirements of the energy consumption for real estate are increasing. There are several different systems around the world used to rate buildings, all with different assessment criteria and starting points, which make it difficult to compare environmental rated buildings with each other.The purpose of this paper is to acquire knowledge about the differences between the Swedish environmental rating system Miljöklassad Byggnad and the American LEED, to discover which system is most advantageous. We also examine whether environmental rating affect the value of a property.Miljöklassad Byggnad is relatively simple structured, which makes it possible for private individuals to rate their property. LEED is better structured on the other hand in the case of environmental classification of commercial properties, because there are manuals for among others hospitals, schools and retail. The rating system for Miljöklassad Byggnad is good since the system seeks to fix the number of errors and deficiencies as soon as possible.

The taste of the dairy product is probably the main factor determining consumer?s dairy products choice. Consequently it is of great importance that the product tastes good and as expected every time. Off-flavors in milk can be caused by for example oxidation of the milk fat. Since copper is a prooxidant, a high copper content in the milk can cause oxidation.

Direct effects of the insecticide deltamethrin on zooplankton and benthic invertebrates werestudied during an attempt to eradicate signal crayfish. In accordance with earlier studies theresults of this investigation showed that deltamethrin is highly toxic for arthropods, whileRotifera, Oligochaeta and Mollusca have a higher tolerance. This study concludes thatRotifera in treated ponds coped with the actual concentration of deltamethrin used during theeradication attempt but that they probably got a different abundance and changed compositiondue to a new situation in competition and predation. Crustacean zooplankton totallydisappeared, but approximately a month after the treatment they began to recolonise. All thetaxonomical groups of arthropods drastically decreased in abundance, with total eliminationof the most sensitive groups.

The purpose of this study was to examine what students themselves think about using computers in school. The study was conducted in a school in central Sweden. The students in focus were students with reading and writing difficulties, dyslexia or language difficulties such as an other native language. A total of eight students were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Previous research confirms that there is a major decline of pollinators worldwide. Investigations have mainly focused on pollination services in the agricultural landscapes and therefore, there is a lack of knowledge on the effects pollinators may have in urban environment. This paper examines the presence of honey bees in central parts of Stockholm, Sweden. The study presents what conditions, possibilities and motives there are behind the phenomenon of urban bee keeping. I found ten locations with beehives and a total of 18 hives within the delimited area. Nothing seems to indicate that conditions may limit the presence of honey bees.

This paper investigates the determinants of corporate cash holdings for a broad sample of Swedish non-financial firms in the 1999 - 2009 period. Using a fixed effect regression model, we find that firms with riskier cash flow hold relatively high ratios of cash to total assets. This is in line with both the precautionary motive and agency motive for cash holdings. Net working capital is found to be negatively related to corporate cash holdings. A result commonly interpreted as support for a negative substitution effect between net working capital and cash.