As a result of global competition, companies within the automotive industry are required to improve their production systems to achieve sustainable and competitive production. To attain operational excellence, companies have adopted concepts like lean and World Class Manufacturing (WCM).In order to deliver, companies need to increase the availability and reliability of production equipment. This demands focus on both operational and strategic maintenance, and efficient equipment acquisition and management. The main objective of this thesis is to identify processes and success factors that are necessary for improved maintenance performance. By conducting a case study and by performing a literature review, the following has been studied: 1) how companies within the automotive industry work with maintenance and maintenance strategies, 2) implementation of maintenance strategies, and 3) new acquisition and spare parts management for maintenance. The results show that basic maintenance concepts and related terms are well defined in the literature.

This masters thesis investigates the relation between China and the Information Society as it is manifested in the UN conference the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS. The first phase of this two-phase conference took place in Geneva 10-12 December 2003, with two documents, Declaration of principles DP and Plan of action PA, as main results. The information policy is central to an authoritarian rule in its efforts to keep control over the national identity. The thesis investigates the impact that the information revolution and Internet might have on the Chinese national identity through the acceptance of DP and PA in various aspects. With the use of the information science theories by Manuel Castells and Frank Webster, the vision of WSIS was compared with the Chinese information policy.

This bachelor thesis describes why investors should invest in environmentally certified buildings instead of non certified buildings. The report provides an overview of possible factors influencing an investor in the investment process of an environmentally certified building. The report explains why building companies find incentive to build green buildings and how a cash flow method can be adapted so it can be used in the valuation process of an environmentally certified building. Environmentally certified buildings are used as a strategy to reduce emissions that threaten the environment as well as a strategy to obtain market shares for the building companies. This report focuses on the economic advantages of an environmentally certified building.The construction- and real estate industry stands for approximately 40 percent of the energy consumption in the world.

The EU has for a long time had a special relationship with its former colonies in Africa Caribbean and the Pacific, called the ACP?countries. This relationship is about to change radically with the new partnership agreement signed in June 2000 in Cotonou. This essay aims to study the EU ?ACP Partnership Agreement from the perspectives of two different theories: The liberalist, free-trade policy theory and the nationalist/regionalist, protectionist theory.

This essay will examine the seasonal word known as kigo ?? which mainly appears in the japanese haiku. The purpose is to offer a suggestion of how a systematic explanation of the semantic peculiarities of kigo could be conducted. The object of this semantic analysis is the kigo tsuki ? (moon).

This work describes the genus Helleborus both from a general point of view, and with individual descriptions of 17 species. The intention is not to make a complete description of the genus, but rather to give an overview and an introduction into the world of Helleborus. A separate chapter lists a few pests and diseases attacking the genus, followed by a brief summary of propagation methods and breeding of the genus. Finally, there is a short discussion of thoughts about the genus and its future use..

The essay deals with questions concerning the reasons, difficulties and subjects for rejoicing which various people experience when visiting "voluntarily" old, lonely people in the congregation of Trollhättan. What knowledge is developed and which values are formed? How is aging and solitude experienced? The visits are co-ordinated by two lay workers employed by the Swedish Church. The study is built on oral interviews in April and May 2003 from a questionaire using open questions. The research group consists of six women between 65-80 of age with 1-30 years´ experience.Inner reasons, contact with other people in similar situations, positive responses to visits, and meetings in the visiting service group seem to be the principal driving forces.

The aim of this study is to examine how ADHD is discussed in the Swedish mass media. We have examined 21 articles from Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet. All articles are reviewed from the newspapers online edition.Theories used are Erving Goffman?s theory of Stigma and Michael Foucault´s theory of categorization as well as Göran Palm's, Renée Skogersson's and Anders R. Olsson's theories about mass media.

Men?s magazines is a form of media that has been present and popular among men for decades and even centuries. In the beginning of 1990 the popularity for men?s magazines boosted as the new ideal man was presented. The new lad represented a new masculinity that was more honest about its ideals and point of views.

Background: When a parent loses its child life will change drastically and assume other conditions. The loss of a child affects the whole human existence, the grief can be very intense as well as in-depth and find expression both on an emotional, physical, mental and spiritual level. Aim: The aim is to describe parents? experiences of losing a child to illness. Method: Graneheim and Lundmans manifest content analysis method was used to the method based on qualitative raw material in forms of three Swedish autobiographies.

This degree project is based on my personal relation and engagement to the small-scaled cultural landscape. My viewpoint is the village Torpa in Östergötland. My observations of the changes and development together with the stories of the village people has lead me to the questioning about the future prospects of the small-scaled cultural landscape. The rationalization of the society and our urban culture has lead to big changes in the cultural landscape and the people have reduced to a small crowd. Fewer and fewer hands are managing the small-scaled cultural landscape and fewer and fewer young people have connection to this kind of landscape and its management.

The master's thesis investigates how the concept traditional knowledge is represented by international organizations that are influential in development work and policy making. Departing from a theoretical framework drawing on Michel Foucault, constructed aspects of knowledge and the power relations knowledge production implies are highlighted.A recent interest within library and information science and practice to document this kind of knowledge raises questions about how traditional knowledge differs from other forms of knowledge and how knowledge organizational tools can be applied. Investigations, which critically explore the concept traditional knowledge, the power relations the concept creates as well as the interests and purposes it serves, have been surprisingly absent within the discipline. The focus in this master's thesis is how traditional knowledge is conceptualized by international organizations. A discourse analytical approach reveals the power relations that are inherent in their descriptions of traditional knowledge and how they describe the relevance of the concept for their work.

The purpose of this paper is to present a possible understanding of why the company Tekola is segregated according to sex. In accordance to this purpose, an understanding of how the segregation affects the employees in relation to power, values and possibilities is discussed. The theoretical understanding is that the organization of men and women within Tekola is done in close connection to creation of the meaning of gender in Tekola. This, in turn, affects and is affected by the recruitment to and within the company. Through the study of statistics from a survey, five interviews with employees and former employees and Tekolas? equality plan, we are able to see the possible existence of a glass ceiling, and a culture of homosociality, which affects the possibilities of women to enter the company and also to gain full entrance to power-positions in a negative way.

Background: Learning is important for companies? existence in today?s society and many studies discuss the importance of life long learning and learning organizations. An increased understanding for how the individual learn at the work place is importance to study to gain an accepting for how learning occurs, both formal and informal. Purpose: The purpose with this study is to describe the process of learning at the work place from an individual perspective, with focus on how formal and informal learning occur and interact. The purpose is also to confirm, contradict or develop existing theories.

That the Swedish society looks different depending on the location is a fact and that in turn means different schools with different conditions and resources depending on the localization. We have in this study interviewed four teachers in a high-status school and four teachers at a low-status school in a municipality south of Stockholm. The purpose of our study is to find out how teachers / educators perceive children's physical and psychological safety in their workplaces, and if there is a difference between the schools in resource allocation.In order to answer our purpose of the study, we chose to interview teachers about how the school looks for the kids in order of enough resources such as books for all, enough facilities and competent and even skilled teachers. To take into account and consider people´s backgrounds, experiences, and cultural frames of reference is a way to interact within a respectful world, and as a good approach to educating children from all parts of the world and with all the different mental and physical difficulties. The two schools in our study show lack of resources but of different kinds.