Open source software has recently been discussed, not least in media as a revolution in IT. A number of advantages have been listed in changing proprietary software into open source software. Examples of such pros are no expenses for license fees and improved efficiency. In spite of this, few users have made this change. One of the reasons is a distrust of the quality in open source software.

This master thesis is an in-depth study of an existing heating system at a household cooperative in Uppsala that has been converted from district heating to a bedrock heat pump system. The study focuses on an economical system optimisation of the building?s complete heating system. The aim was to determine how well a heat pump system in large buildings actually work, find out possible ways to optimize the existing system and point out important system parameters for new heat pump installations in larger buildings.The project points out a possible energy cost reduction of 45 % without investment and further cost reductions with equipment investments. A reduction by 30 % is possible by improvements in the regulation system and 15 % is possible by maintaining the brine system.

This is an examination of the Swedish unemployment insurance system and the effects it has on the Swedish long-term unemployment. A search model is explained to give an understanding to the incentives of the unemployed. Different mechanisms that create unemployment and that could create long-term unemployment are investigated, but primarily the unemployment insurance is in focus.The Swedish unemployment insurance has undergone several changes the last fifteen years that have improved its efficiency. The introduction of a finite duration of unemployment insurance entitlement was an important step and so was the decrease in the replacement ratio. Even so, I assess that there is still room for improvements of the incentives to search for work among the unemployed.

Citizens? freedom of choice has been a subject of debate in Sweden for over 30 years. This study focuses on decision making processes among patients within the Swedish healthcare system. The main conclusions are that in contrast to how patients? freedom of choice is described within governmental bills and governmental inquires and reports, patients are not following the steps included in the rational model of decision making.

The aim of the study was to install a biogas system consisting of three tubular polyethylene biogas digesters at a rural household in Malawi and to evaluate the constructed biogas system with regards to relevant system parameters. The purpose was to evaluate if the technology is a possible solution to reduce deforestation and support Malawi in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The study was carried out in the southern part of Malawi in cooperation with the University of Malawi. Locally available materials were used to construct and install the system. Three different feed materials, cow, goat and a mix of cow and goat manure, were used in order to determine which one was best suited to utilise as a digester substrate. After the installation, measurements of temperature, pH, biogas production, biogas composition and system functionality were made. The results of the study show that a biogas system with tubular polyethylene biogas digesters can be successfully installed at a rural household and that the most suitable feed material is a mix of cow and goat manure.

This thesis deals with co-operation between municipalities viewed from the perspectiveof the small municipality. It poses two questions: How and why doessmall municipalities co-operate? and Which is the place of the small municipalityin a larger organization?. To examine this three Scanian municipalities have beenstudied and one Norwegian municipality is used to provide a perspective on theSwedish discussion.Four theoretical topics guide the thesis. Firstly the core values of municipalities;democracy, autonomy and efficiency.

The object for this study is a company developing and manufacturing vehicles for heavy transportation. The company distributes their products on a global market. Therefore the company is required to have efficient internal production development processes in order to successfully beat the competition. The purpose of this master thesis is to study how this particular company intends to implement their standardized theoretical product development process within their organization and how well it is done. We intend to identify and specify if the process has any unexploited capacity.

The aim of this paper has been to investigate how accounting firms govern their organizations with regards to the complexity in the service that they offer. The service includes the general accounting tasks which through standardization can be cost efficient, the advisory services that entail flexibility, and the relationship with the customer which needs to be taken into consideration when delivering the financial reports. These three components are important but require different approaches when it comes to governing the organization. The conducted case study has shown that the accounting firms govern their organizations bureaucratically and mainly through behaviour and accounting controls. The advisory services demanded by customers are standardized, not analytical, and therefore do not require the firms to take flexibility into consideration.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the three search engines Web of Science, Google Scholar and MEDLINE in regards of recovery efficiency and the overlap of relevant documents when it comes to information searching for academic purposes. Furthermore, it raises the question whether freely available search engines and licensed search engines are interchangeable with each other. The empirical data in this study were collected through searches conducted in the three search engines Web of Science, Google Scholar and MEDLINE. Twenty search queries were used and the first twenty retrieved documents for each query were examined for relevance using previously designed criteria. The documents were scored by a binary relevancy scale and thereafter a precision value for each search engine was calculated.

Given that the oil prices have risen and the environmental regulations has become more stringent, the interest in operating efficiency has increased. The project has investigated the possibility of producing electricity from waste heat generated in the diesel process. One technique to utilize and convert energy into electricity is the ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle). This process is based on the Rankine process (the steam process), the difference from the traditional Rankine process is that instead of water as a working medium, an organic substance is used. The main component used in the process is a evaporator, a turbine, a condenser and a pump.

Our report procedure identification of instability and disturbance in an automatic manufacturing line of processing and assembling of chair sliding rails at Sapas manufacturing department in Vetlanda.To obtain a stabile ground we have mapped the material flow to receive a comprehensive view and to visualise connections.We have examined cycle times at different stations in purpose to identificate bottlenecks. The result of our examination showed that the bottleneck of the line was the brush station. This leads to that the expected bottlenecks identificated by Sapa gets a delay time and by that a longer cycle time.Interruptions has a clear negative influence at the line performance so we have also assemble data through the operators report list and compiled these in order to find out the interruptions effect on the line. The outcome during our assembled period was that the reported interruptions corresponded about 30 percent of the total available production time. This has a clear negative effect on the line productivity and efficiency as we have calculated in order to get the present status..

Farmers are required to make sure that cattles basic needs are met, but still every year cases of neglect occur where the farmer has not complied within the animal welfare law and regulations. The aim of this study was to investigate how cattle are affected physically and behaviourally by neglect in the form of underfeeding, starvation and lack of sanitation, which animals are most vulnerable to the impact and what prospects they have to recover. The study was conducted as a literature study and the results show that these types of neglect have a large impact on the cattle welfare. Underfeeding and starvation causes physical changes leading to reduced milk production, reduced muscle mass, impaired immune function, poor reproductive performance and changes in rumen microflora leading to decreased number of microbes and pH change. Physical changes due to the lack of sanitation consist of increased vulnerability to hoof diseases and mastitis, burns, and increased sensitivity to temperature.

Mechanical ventilation is the most common type ofventilation in newly constructed office buildings. Therehas been an interest to utilize natural ventilationinstead of mechanical ventilation among architects andHVAC consultants in recent years. This is due to thesize of mechanical ventilation systems, which arespace consuming. The mechanical ventilation system isalso complex and requires maintenance. Furthermore,the fan uses a considerable amount of energy.

Sow shoulder lesions are a common form of decubital ulcers in sows. The wounds are often bilateral and affect both loose housed and restrained sows. In most cases shoulder lesions develop after farrowing and heal after weaning. Sows that once have had decubital ulcera are however more proned to develop new wounds after the next farrowing. The problem is multifactorial and a number of risk factors have been described, including body condition, body size, parity, time spent lying down, flooring, moisture, breed, body temperature and some herd factors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the height of the tuber spina scapulae is a risk factor for the development of decubital ulcers.

Product development cycles become shorter and shorter. The time from idea to market has become an important competitive factor. Despite this, methods used for making the product development process faster are surrounded with uncertainty about their efficiency. The purpose of the thesis is to describe the pros and cons of ?best practice? methods for shortening lead times and how these methods effect the lead times in research and development.