In today‟s manufacturing environment, different parts manufactured in-house and bought from suppliers are often assembled together into a finished product. Competition has made it very important for companies to deliver a customized product on a promised date. However, when inventory items are missing at the time of production, lead times for products become uncertain and this makes it difficult to fulfill a customer order on the promised date. It is thus important to explore the causes of missing items at the time of production in order to solve such a problem. This Master of Science thesis carried out through a case study at Fläkt Woods in collaboration with Jönköping University is about the problem of not finding specific inventory items in the locations specified by the computer system. It is delimited to inventory items which are physically within the company premises or which according to the computer system are within the premises of the company. The questions at issue have been what the causes of the problem of missing items within the company are and how to effectively reduce the problem. The thesis has been carried out over an entire academic semester as a full-time work in the company. The sources of the problem have been found to be the result of the work procedure, the underlying software used during work (the in-house developed ERP system), stealing from orders, ineffective barcode scans, re-sequencing at the component manufacturing department (called pre-manufacturing in the company) due to the need to fulfill multiple objectives, set-up times at the component manufacturing department and human errors among others. The suggestions given include: modification of the work procedure and the underlying software used at work, increasing effective scanning and using some checks at critical points in the material flow. Areas for further research are given to further reduce the impact of the problem on the production system.

The relationship between media and religion has been influenced by many factors in history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has received a great deal of media attention throughout the world in the past five years. In Italy, the Church National Council of Public Relations worked to provide the media with the necessary information to report accurate news about the Church. This thesis collected the information provided to the Italian media by the Church National Council and analyzed the main topic and the level of accuracy reported by the Italian media on Church-related news. The results show that Italian media tend to use the information provided by the Church only when discussing the Church in Italy, but still report a great deal of inaccurate or misleading information when discussing the Church in the world.

Introdução: O tema medicalização emerge como objeto de estudo no campo da sociologia da saúde, a partir da década de 70, nas vozes de Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad e Michel Foucalt; as quais indicaram a crescente influência da medicina em campos que até então não lhe pertenciam. E, no decorrer dos anos, o termo vem sendo apropriado por vários campos: na saúde, na educação, na psicologia, entre outros. Esta configuração levou alguns estudiosos da primeira década do século XXI, a se preocupar com o uso impreciso e vago do conceito de medicalização na produção científica. Neste sentido, este estudo busca olhar para os processos de medicalização, tomando-o em sua pluralidade a fim de discernir as principais forças motrizes e coteja-las com as mudanças na contemporaneidade. Objetivo: Recuperar as forças motrizes contidas nas principais contribuições dos autores primários sobre os processos de medicalização. Método: Realizou-se um exercício hermenêutico composto pelos seguintes passos: leitura profunda do texto, fichamento dos aspectos centrais que caracterizam as diversas concepções sobre medicalização. Interpretação do conteúdo por meio da abstração dos núcleos de sentido e dos referenciais teóricos que lhe dão suporte. Resultados: A partir deste movimento reflexivo e crítico conseguiu-se desvelar quatro conceitos nucleares que representam as principais forças motrizes: a indústria, as instituições, o Estado e a sociedade. Zola oferece indícios que o Estado e a indústria teriam levado a sociedade à dependência da medicina. Para Illich, a medicina, por si só, detém o poder comparada as outras instituições. Para Michel Foucault, a medicina deixou de ser uma ciência pura e transformou-se numa instituição subordinada a um sistema econômico e de poder, enfim a uma lógica subjacente aos princípios e regras de governo. Em contrapartida, para Conrad a medicalização não constitui um empreendimento exclusivo da medicina, prevalecendo os interesses de outras instituições e organizações sociais. O sentido com que cada um desses conceitos é usado difere entre os autores e a distinção desses aspectos é chave para compreender a contribuição efetiva de cada um. Da mesma forma, ocorre quando os autores discutem as consequências e os efeitos causados pelos processos de medicalização. Alguns autores direcionam seus efeitos para os indivíduos, num processo de exacerbação da individualização; enquanto que outros focam os efeitos da medicalização nas políticas de saúde e na questão econômica associada ao oneroso custo financeiro para a sociedade e o país. Considerações finais: A recuperação e a compreensão dos significados subjacentes às principais forças motrizes presentes nas contribuições de cada autor apresentadas nesta investigação constituem-se em passo importante para subsidiar a reflexão sobre processos concretos de medicalização no início do século XXI, um período marcado por aceleradas transformações, no qual, entre outros aspectos, a medicina e várias instituições têm sido crescentemente, capturadas para satisfazer, de um lado o consumismo, e de outro, a avidez pelo lucro do mercado capitalista; ao mesmo tempo em que forças desagregadoras atravessam os sujeitos impactando sua autonomia e identidade política, social e econômica. / Introduction: The theme medicalization rises as an object of study in the sociology of health field, starting in the 70s from Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad and Michel Foucault; which indicated the growing influence of medicine on groups not yet belonged by it. And, as years went by, the term has been appropriated by several fields: health, education, psychology, and so forth. This configuration took some scholars from the first decade of the 21st century to worry about the inaccurate and vague use of the concept of medicalization in the scientific production. Hence, this study focus on looking at the process of medicalization, taking it in its pluralities in order to discern the main driving forces and collate them with the changes in contemporaneity. Goal: Recover the driving forces contained in the main contributions from the primary authors about the process of medicalization. Methodology: It was performed an hermeneutic assignment made by the following steps: deep reading of the text, indexing of main aspects that characterize the various conceptions about medicalization, and interpretation of the content by the abstraction of the core of senses and theoretical references that support it. Result: From that reflexive and critic movement it was able to unveil four core concepts that represent the main driving forces: the industry, the institutions, the state and society. Zola offers clues showing that the state and the industry had taken society to a dependence of medicine. As for Illich, medicine by itself holds the power compared to the other institutions. For Michel Foucault, medicine stopped being plain science and became an institution subordinate to an economic and power system, therefore to an underlying logic to the government\'s rules and principles. In contrast, for Peter Conrad medicalization doesn\'t consist in a medicine exclusive enterprise, prevailing the interests of other social institutions and organizations. The meaning of which each of these concepts is used differs among the authors and the distinction of these aspects is the key to understanding an effective contribution of each one. Accordingly, it happens when the authors discuss the consequences and effects caused by the medicalization process. Some authors aim its effects to individuals, in a process of aggravation of individualization; whereas others focus the effects of medicalization on health policies and the economic aspect associated with the onerous financial cost to society and to the country. Final considerations: The recovery and understanding of the underlying meanings to the main driving forces contained within each authors contribution shown in this investigation consist in an important step to support the reflection about the factual process of medicalization at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by fast transformations which, among other aspects, medicine and several institutions have been increasingly taken to satisfy on the one hand consumerism, and on the other hand the greed for profit of the capitalist market, at the same time that disintegrating forces cross the subjects, impacting its political, social and economic autonomy and identity.

Introdução: O tema medicalização emerge como objeto de estudo no campo da sociologia da saúde, a partir da década de 70, nas vozes de Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad e Michel Foucalt; as quais indicaram a crescente influência da medicina em campos que até então não lhe pertenciam. E, no decorrer dos anos, o termo vem sendo apropriado por vários campos: na saúde, na educação, na psicologia, entre outros. Esta configuração levou alguns estudiosos da primeira década do século XXI, a se preocupar com o uso impreciso e vago do conceito de medicalização na produção científica. Neste sentido, este estudo busca olhar para os processos de medicalização, tomando-o em sua pluralidade a fim de discernir as principais forças motrizes e coteja-las com as mudanças na contemporaneidade. Objetivo: Recuperar as forças motrizes contidas nas principais contribuições dos autores primários sobre os processos de medicalização. Método: Realizou-se um exercício hermenêutico composto pelos seguintes passos: leitura profunda do texto, fichamento dos aspectos centrais que caracterizam as diversas concepções sobre medicalização. Interpretação do conteúdo por meio da abstração dos núcleos de sentido e dos referenciais teóricos que lhe dão suporte. Resultados: A partir deste movimento reflexivo e crítico conseguiu-se desvelar quatro conceitos nucleares que representam as principais forças motrizes: a indústria, as instituições, o Estado e a sociedade. Zola oferece indícios que o Estado e a indústria teriam levado a sociedade à dependência da medicina. Para Illich, a medicina, por si só, detém o poder comparada as outras instituições. Para Michel Foucault, a medicina deixou de ser uma ciência pura e transformou-se numa instituição subordinada a um sistema econômico e de poder, enfim a uma lógica subjacente aos princípios e regras de governo. Em contrapartida, para Conrad a medicalização não constitui um empreendimento exclusivo da medicina, prevalecendo os interesses de outras instituições e organizações sociais. O sentido com que cada um desses conceitos é usado difere entre os autores e a distinção desses aspectos é chave para compreender a contribuição efetiva de cada um. Da mesma forma, ocorre quando os autores discutem as consequências e os efeitos causados pelos processos de medicalização. Alguns autores direcionam seus efeitos para os indivíduos, num processo de exacerbação da individualização; enquanto que outros focam os efeitos da medicalização nas políticas de saúde e na questão econômica associada ao oneroso custo financeiro para a sociedade e o país. Considerações finais: A recuperação e a compreensão dos significados subjacentes às principais forças motrizes presentes nas contribuições de cada autor apresentadas nesta investigação constituem-se em passo importante para subsidiar a reflexão sobre processos concretos de medicalização no início do século XXI, um período marcado por aceleradas transformações, no qual, entre outros aspectos, a medicina e várias instituições têm sido crescentemente, capturadas para satisfazer, de um lado o consumismo, e de outro, a avidez pelo lucro do mercado capitalista; ao mesmo tempo em que forças desagregadoras atravessam os sujeitos impactando sua autonomia e identidade política, social e econômica. / Introduction: The theme medicalization rises as an object of study in the sociology of health field, starting in the 70s from Irving Zola, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad and Michel Foucault; which indicated the growing influence of medicine on groups not yet belonged by it. And, as years went by, the term has been appropriated by several fields: health, education, psychology, and so forth. This configuration took some scholars from the first decade of the 21st century to worry about the inaccurate and vague use of the concept of medicalization in the scientific production. Hence, this study focus on looking at the process of medicalization, taking it in its pluralities in order to discern the main driving forces and collate them with the changes in contemporaneity. Goal: Recover the driving forces contained in the main contributions from the primary authors about the process of medicalization. Methodology: It was performed an hermeneutic assignment made by the following steps: deep reading of the text, indexing of main aspects that characterize the various conceptions about medicalization, and interpretation of the content by the abstraction of the core of senses and theoretical references that support it. Result: From that reflexive and critic movement it was able to unveil four core concepts that represent the main driving forces: the industry, the institutions, the state and society. Zola offers clues showing that the state and the industry had taken society to a dependence of medicine. As for Illich, medicine by itself holds the power compared to the other institutions. For Michel Foucault, medicine stopped being plain science and became an institution subordinate to an economic and power system, therefore to an underlying logic to the government\'s rules and principles. In contrast, for Peter Conrad medicalization doesn\'t consist in a medicine exclusive enterprise, prevailing the interests of other social institutions and organizations. The meaning of which each of these concepts is used differs among the authors and the distinction of these aspects is the key to understanding an effective contribution of each one. Accordingly, it happens when the authors discuss the consequences and effects caused by the medicalization process. Some authors aim its effects to individuals, in a process of aggravation of individualization; whereas others focus the effects of medicalization on health policies and the economic aspect associated with the onerous financial cost to society and to the country. Final considerations: The recovery and understanding of the underlying meanings to the main driving forces contained within each authors contribution shown in this investigation consist in an important step to support the reflection about the factual process of medicalization at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by fast transformations which, among other aspects, medicine and several institutions have been increasingly taken to satisfy on the one hand consumerism, and on the other hand the greed for profit of the capitalist market, at the same time that disintegrating forces cross the subjects, impacting its political, social and economic autonomy and identity.

Aim of this work is to study the impact of inaccuracy in execution of required task (inaccuracy in subject’s behavioral response to experimental stimulation) by person who undergoes fMRI examination. The work is solved in several stages. First, theoretical analysis of inaccuracy in fMRI experiment was performed, and simulations with synthetic data were created. Several variables in general linear model and t-statistics were followed. We found that estimated effect size depends linearly on covariance between the corresponding columns of X and D matrices or their linear combination. The component of residual variance caused by inaccuracy is negligible at real-life noise levels. In such case, moreover, the dependence of t-statistics on inaccuracy becomes linear. Next, our theoretical results (dependencies/characteristics of variables) were verified using real data. All results were confirmed. Last, I focused on possible practical use of the uncovered characteristics and dependencies. Optimization of experimental design with respect to inaccuracy, correction of inaccurate results and reliability of inaccurate results are introduced and discussed. Especially, the calculation of maps of maximal tolerable inaccuracy can be useful to find robust or weak (tending to be not detected or to be significantly different from accurate value) activation in real fMRI experiments.

This thesis is titled "A Framework for Enhancing the Accuracy of Ultra Precision Machining." In this thesis unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration is identified as a major contributor to workpiece inaccuracy. The phenomenon is studied via in situ vibrational measurements during cutting and also by the analysis of the workpiece surface metrology of ultra precision diamond face turned aluminum 6061-T6. The manifestation of vibrations in the feed and in-feed directions of the workpiece was studied over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. It is found that the waviness error measured on the cut workpiece surface was significantly larger than that caused by the feed marks during cutting. Thus it was established that unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibrations are the dominant source of surface finish error in ultra precision machining. By deriving representative equations in the polar coordinate system, it was found that the vibrational pattern repeats itself, leading to what are referred to in this thesis as surface finish lobes. The surface finish lobes describe the waviness or form error associated with a particular frequency of unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration, given a particular feed rate and spindle speed. With the surface finish lobes, the study of vibrations is both simplified and made more systematic. Knowing a priori the wavelength range caused by relative tool / workpiece vibration also allows one to extract considerable vibration content information from a small white light interferometry field of view. It was demonstrated analytically that the error caused by relative tool / workpiece vibration is always distinct from the surface roughness caused by the feed rate. It was also shown that the relative tool / workpiece vibration-induced wavelength in the feed direction has a limited and repeating range. Additionally, multiple disturbance frequencies can produce the same error wavelength on the workpiece surface. Since the meaningful error wavelength range is finite given the size of the part and repeating, study then focussed on this small and manageable range of wavelengths. This range of wavelengths in turn encompasses a broadband range of possible disturbance frequencies, due to the repetition described by the surface finish lobes. Over this finite range of wavelengths, for different machining conditions, the magnitude of the waviness error resulting on the cut workpiece surface was compared with the actual relative tool / workpiece vibrational magnitude itself. It was found that several opportunities occur in ultra precision machining to mitigate the vibrational effect on the workpiece surface. The first opportunity depends only on the feed rate and spindle speed. Essentially, it is possible to force the wavelength resulting from an unwanted relative tool / workpiece vibration to a near infinite length, thus eliminating its effect in the workpiece feed direction. Further, for a given disturbance frequency, various speed and feed rate combinations are capable of producing this effect. However, this possibility exists only when a single, dominant and fixed disturbance frequency is present in the process. By considering the tool nose geometry, depth of cut, and vibrational amplitude over the surface finish lobe finite range, it was found that the cutting parameters exhibit an attenuating or filtering effect on vibrations. Thus, cutting parameters serve to mitigate the vibrational effect on the finished workpiece over certain wavelengths. The filter curves associated with various feed rates were compared. These filter curves describe the magnitude of error on the ultra precision face turned workpiece surface compared with the original unwanted tool / workpiece vibrational magnitude. It was demonstrated with experimental data that these filter curves are physically evident on the ultra precision diamond face turned workpiece surface. It was further shown that the surface roughness on the workpiece surface caused by the feed rate was reduced with relative tool / workpiece vibrations, and in some cases the feed mark wavelength was changed altogether. Mean arithmetic surface roughness curves were also constructed, and the filtering phenomenon was demonstrated over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. It is well established that a decrease in the feed rate reduces the surface roughness in machining. However, it was demonstrated that the improved surface finish observed with a slower feed rate in ultra precision diamond face turning was actually because it more effectively mitigated the vibrational effect on the workpiece surface over a broadband of disturbance frequencies. Experimental findings validated this observation. By only considering the effect of vibrations on the surface finish waviness error, it was shown that the workpiece diamond face turned with a feed rate of 2 {tm / rev has a mean arithmetic surface roughness, Ra , that was 43 per cent smaller than when a feed rate of 10 μm / rev was used. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The objective of this diploma thesis is the design of a device that measures the vehicle’s centre of gravity height position. The first part defines individual methods of measurement using various measuring equipment. The next part deals with the definition of requirements for the device and the definition of the design. A stress-strain analysis was executed for selected components. This diploma thesis describes the preparation process of the vehicle and the device for the measurement. The next part is dedicated to the design of the measuring chain and to the evaluation of the results. The thesis concludes with a theoretic analysis of the measurement inaccuracy.

Sammanfattning Kurs: Examensarbete i Logistik för Civilekonomprogrammet, 30 hp, 4FE19E.  Författare: Jakob Bergman och Jim Andersson. Examinator: Peter Berling Handledare: Peter Berling  Medbedömare: Hana Hulthén Titel: Saldoavvikelser i producerande företag, en fallstudie på Getinge Disinfection AB. Bakgrund: En välfungerande lagerhållning är en väsentlig grundsten för ett företags framgångar. I takt med att lagerhållningen blivit mer automatiserad och effektiviserad ställs högre krav på att informationen om lagersaldon stämmer överens med verkligheten. Saldoavvikelser är ett utbrett problem som kan påverka många olika delar av en verksamhet, såsom felaktiga underlag för inköp, den dagliga driften och företagets servicegrad. Fallföretaget Getinge Disinfection AB upplever främst att saldoavvikelser på företaget får effekt på den dagliga driften, något som denna studie ämnar undersöka. Syfte: Studien syftar till att identifiera konsekvenser och orsaker till saldoavvikelser på Getinge Disinfection AB samt ge förbättringsförslag som kan reducera saldoavvikelser på företaget. Metod: Denna studie har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi. Vidare är studiens forskningsdesign en fallstudie då den endast undersöker ett fall ingående och detaljerat. Resultat: Studien fann att saldoavvikelser kan uppstå i alla steg i den studerade processen, med varierande primära orsaker i de olika stegen i processen. Bland de konsekvenser som funnits är de främsta icke-värdeskapande aktiviteter, opålitliga underlag för inköpsbeslut, OOS och ökade ledtider. Majoriteten av orsakerna grundar sig i den mänskliga faktorn, det vill säga att anställda inte följer rutiner eller gör misstag i processen. Dessa misstag kan ske i olika aktiviteter i processen och det finns olika primärorsaker beroende på var i processen misstaget sker. Vidare har författarna tagit fram förbättringsförslag för att effektivisera Getinge Disinfection ABs produktionsprocess. De mest lämpliga förbättringsförslagen är att skapa förståelse om saldoavvikelser bland de anställda, införa Cycle counting, digitalisera olika aktiviteter och utvärdera det nuvarande artikelsortimentet. Nyckelord: Saldosäkerhet, Saldoavvikelser, Producerande företag, Medicinteknik, Life Science, Assemble to Order, ATO, Cycle Counting, RFID, Streckkoder. / Abstract  Course: Degree project in Logistics, the Business Administration and Economics Programme, 30 credits, 4FE19E.    Authors: Jakob Bergman and Jim Andersson. Examiner: Peter Berling.  Tutor: Peter Berling. Co-judger: Hana Hulthén Title: Inventory record inaccuracies in manufacturing companies, a case study on Getinge Disinfection AB. Background: Effective inventory management is of considerable importance for most successful businesses. Without it, companies would be hard-pressed to meet the demands of consumers that place a high value on fast deliveries and product availability. As a result, businesses have turned to increased automation of their inventory management. This automation relies heavily on information such as inventory records being accurate and up to date. Inventory record inaccuracies result in purchases or decisions being made on incorrect assumptions of the companies’ actual inventory status, which has a negative effect on many aspects of the business. However, most studies on this subject focus on inventory record inaccuracies in a retailing context, whereas this study focuses on a large manufacturing company (Getinge Disinfection AB) using an Assemble to Order model. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the different causes and consequences of inventory record inaccuracies (IRI) at Getinge Disinfection AB. Furthermore, the study aims to offer proposals on how to improve inventory record accuracy at Getinge Disinfection AB.    Methodology: This paper adopts a qualitative research strategy with a case-study approach.  Findings: The study concluded that inventory record inaccuracies can arise in all areas of the studied process, with different primary reasons for different stages of the process. Most of the causes of IRI can be attributed to the human factor, such as incorrect identification of the items, unregistered movements of goods, and transaction errors. The consequences of (IRI) were mainly the resulting non-value adding activities, purchasing decisions being made based on unreliable inventory data, stockouts and longer lead times. The study also gives suggestions on how Getinge could reduce these inventory record inaccuracies. Improvement measures such as Cycle counting, bar coding of the items and locations and increased staff training are discussed. Keywords: Inventory Record Accuracy, Inventory Record Inaccuracy, Manufacturing, Health Care, Life Science, Assemble to Order, ATO, Cycle Counting, RFID, Bar coding.

This doctoral thesis widely analyses the process of investment decision-making. In its individual parts, it researches models used for planning, analysing and evaluation of investments projects, but also models used for final decision about realization of the investment. Investing activity is present in world economic cycle in all it’s phases. Capital sources used for financing if the investment projects are scarce and must be handled with care. For this reason, there are many supportive methodologies and models employed in managing of the investments as well as instruments developed to miti-gate the potential project risks. However, even utilization of these instruments and models can’t guarantee the expected results. There are uncertainties, errors and in-accuracies in the process that can thwart investment decisions. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the investment decision-making process (from the initial idea to the realization of the investment project) and to identify the main un-certainties – factors influencing the success / error rate of models for investment project planning as well as the decision on their realization. The main outcome of the thesis is an overview of these factors and recommenda-tions on how to work with these factors and make the process as effective as possi-ble. Another output is an analysis and recommendations for the use of financing sources and mix of the instruments that should be used to mitigate the potential impact of risks that are connected to all investment projects.