My artwork represents the playful and imaginative phase of life I went through as a young child. My cluttered bedroom floor doubled as a castle courtyard for a princess and her ladies-in-waiting. The unused space in my parent’s garage operated as a gourmet restaurant open to serve the finest cuisine. The fancy skirts, jewelry, and shoes that filled my mother’s closet were the tools for creating my ultimate fantasyland, in which I was already a successful grown up. My work is meant to convey the make-believe mindset from my childhood. To this day, I am inspired by the fluttering excitement that ignites and builds up in my stomach and ends in tickling my brain. The adventure begins when I think of constructing pieces of a magical world - a place where your mind molds a simple item into a sacred, irreplaceable thing of beauty and importance. I hope the viewer is inspired to slip away to a playful spot in their imagination that enchantingly transforms everyday objects into something rare.

Efterlevande makes arvsrätt har genomgått stora förändringar under 1900-talet i svensk rätt. Från en väldigt svag position under tidigt 1900-tal till en betydligt starkare ställning i dagens ärvdabalk. Den senaste förändringen skedde 1986 då efterlevande make började ärva framför gemensamma barn. Det liknade den förändring som tidigare skett med arvingar i den andra arvsklassen, där efterlevande make ärvde före dessa arvingar men arvingarna hade i sin tur rätt till ett efterarv när efterlevande make avled.   I dagens ärvdabalk är den stora motsättningen mellan särkullbarn och efterlevande make, där särkullbarn ärver före maken. Släktbanden har under de senaste århundradet luckrats upp och det är inte längre av samma vikt att arvet hålls inom släkten som det tidigare varit när det främst var den fasta egendomen som var det viktiga i arvet för att kunna bruka jorden. Det moderna samhället idag har mindre fokus på att behålla fast egendom inom familjen, då allt färre jobbar inom jordbruk och är beroende av sina föräldrar för sin försörjning. Det är nu av större vikt för de flesta att deras partner klarar sig ekonomiskt efter deras bortgång.   Uppsatsen lyfter frågan om arvsrätten är i behov av förändring för att stärka den efterlevande makens ekonomiska skydd. I analysen framkommer möjliga åtgärder för att stärka efterlevande makes skydd och hur detta påverkar särkullbarns ställning inom arvsrätten. / The right to inherit for a spouse of a deceased by Swedish law has been undergoing major changes during the 20th century. From a rather weak position during the early 20th century to a considerably stronger position today. The latest change occurred in 1986 when the widowed spouse got the right to inherit before children in common with the deceased spouse. The change was similar to the one that earlier had occurred with heirs in the second heir class, when the widowed spouse inherited before these heirs but the heirs got a right to inherit after the widowed spouse had deceased.   In today’s law about heritage the clash is between the widowed spouse and children who are not the spouses in common. The child of the deceased spouse, who is not the child of the widowed spouse, inherits before the widowed spouse by today´s law. During the last century the bonds between relatives has been less and less important as the society has progressed from farming to industrializing. The children have less need for inheriting land to farm nowadays and aren´t depending on their parents to provide for them. Instead of children depending on inheriting from their parents it is now more important that the widowed spouse is coping with their new economic situation.   The Paper elevates the question whether the in heritage law needs change to strengthen the widowed spouse´s economic protection.  In the analysis possible solutions to make this change is presented and also takes consideration to children from a previous marriage.

The question regarding whether to produce in-house or to purchase from an external supplier is nowadays commonly highlighted as a central and strategic decision for manufacturing firms. Furthermore, the importance of creating a competitive and consistent make-or-buy strategy that is adapted to the context of the firm as well as to today´s dynamic business environment cannot be underestimated. Today, the division Surface and Exploration Drilling (SED) within Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB in Örebro lack a standardized and holistic process to support this decision making, why this is requested. Consequently, this master thesis aims to, in line with Atlas Copco´s business strategy, develop a decision model in order to facilitate the make-or-buy decision at the SED. In order to be able to fulfill the purpose, a thorough examination of the contemporary academic findings was executed. Furthermore, as the requested make-or-buy decision model should be adapted to the firm’s contextual circumstances, SED´s corporate strategy was analyzed and interviews with concerned employees from different functions were conducted. As a result of this, an initial list of parameters that affect the make-or-buy decision was generated. Thereafter, how to decompose, measure and prioritize this selected parameters were determined. Additionally, if any parameter should be considered as a knockout criterion was established as well. Based on this, the first draft of the decision model was developed and presented. An in depth analysis regarding areas of improvements was thereafter executed, and the first draft of the decision model was updated accordingly. Inputs to this analysis were gained from an empirical investigation. In more detail, interviews at both SED and at external suppliers, a calculative case study where the first draft of the model was tested as well as a workshop at SED were all sources of additional inputs. Based on the outcome of the in depth analysis, modifications of the first draft of the model was made which resulted in the final version of the make-or-buy decision model. The result of this investigation can consequently be described as a corporate adapted make-or-buy decision model. The model is divided into seven steps, namely: Core competence analysis Determination of module characteristics Configuration of the make-or-buy setup Request of quotations to potential supplier Volume flexibility, lead time and total cost analysis Risk evaluation Synthesis of above stated parameters, including the parameters: time flexibility impact on R&D operations acquiring competitive knowledge product flexibility the opportunity to share risks long-term capacity Furthermore, the end-user needs to have an idea of what module and what assembly level that could be of interest and use the decision model in order to investigate whether to reject or proceed with this suggested make-or-buy setup. The model also illustrates the need of a regular re-evaluation of the decision made, in order to cope with the dynamic internal and external business environment. One additional advantage with the decision model is that it takes both quantitative and more qualitative aspects into consideration after which a holistic analysis of these can be made.

Postponement is widely recognised as an approach that can lead to superior supply chains, and its application is widely observed as a growing trend in manufacturing. Form postponement (FPp) involves the delay of final manufacturing until a customer order is received and is commonly regarded as an approach to mass customisation. However, while much is written in the literature on the benefits and strategic impact of FPp, little is still known about its application. Thus this research project aims to address how FPp is applied in terms of the operational implications within the manufacturing facility. Here the ‘postponed’ manufacturing processes are performed in the factory where the preceding processes are carried out. An in-depth case study research design was developed and involved case studies at three manufacturing facilities, which provided diverse contexts in which to study FPp applications. Each case study incorporated multiple units of analysis which were based around product groups subject to different inventory management policies – FPp, make to order (MTO) and make to stock (MTS). The same research design was used in each study and involved both qualitative and quantitative evidence. Qualitative evidence was gathered via structured interviews and included the operational changes required to apply FPp in a previously MTO and MTS environment. Eleven quantitative variables, providing a broad based measurement instrument, were compared across the three units of analysis to test the hypotheses. This combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence in the case studies helped to triangulate the research findings. Comparison between the three case studies provided further conclusions regarding operational implications that were context specific and those which were not. The research concludes that the manufacturing planning system presents a major obstacle to the application of FPp in a MTO and MTS environment. In spite of this, and even when the FPp application is flawed, the benefits of FPp still justify its application. The research also contributes two frameworks: one which determines when FPp is a viable alternative to MTO or MTS; and another that illustrates the major operational implications of applying FPp to a product exhibiting component swapping modularity.

No description available.

No description available.

Make-to-order (MTO) systems have been traditionally popular in manufacturing industries that either seek to provide greater variety to their customers or make products that are unique to their customers. More recently, with shrinking product life cycles, there is an increasing interest in operating as MTO systems. With the tremendous success of revenue management techniques in the service industries over the last three decades, there is a growing interest in applying these techniques in MTO manufacturing industries. In the present work, we consider three problems that apply revenue management (RM) to on-date delivery MTO systems. In the first problem, we assume that all orders completed in advance of their due-dates are stored at third party warehouses and apply RM in computing efficient order acceptance and scheduling policies. We develop an optimal solution scheme, and based on the insights gained on the structural properties of the optimal solution, we develop a stochastic approximation scheme for finding efficient solutions. Through computational studies on simulated problems, we illustrate the potential of RM in improving net profits over popular practices. In our second problem, we extend the RM model to consider presence of a certain amount of first party warehousing capacity for storing the orders completed in advance of their due-dates. We study the conditions under which it is desirable to consider the holding cost aspects in the RM model. In our third problem, we develop a scheme for determining an efficient capacity of the first party warehouse that is used for storing the orders completed in advance of their due-dates at an on-date delivery MTO system. This scheme captures the completed orders storage demand resulting from a RM based order acceptance and scheduling policy. We illustrate that when booking horizon is large, considerable amount of savings in the holding costs can be made with an efficiently sized first party warehouse.

Zugl.: Darmstadt, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2009

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund Alzheimers sjukdom är en av de stora folksjukdomarna och är den fjärde vanligaste dödsorsaken i Sverige. Alzheimers kan kallas för anhörigsjukdom, då det är vanligt att anhöriga vårdar sin familjemedlem under sjukdomens förlopp. Alzheimers är en sjukdom som på många sätt försämrar tillståndet hos den sjuka, vilket medför en stor belastning både fysiskt och psykiskt för de anhöriga som vårdar. Syfte Syftet är att undersöka anhörigas erfarenheter av att vårda sin make/maka med Alzheimers sjukdom i hemmet. Metod Arbetet är en systematisk litteraturstudie och både kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier används för att få en helhetsbild av anhörigas erfarenheter av att vårda sin make/maka med Alzheimers. Tio artiklar utgör grunden för examensarbetets resultat. Resultat Resultatet består av tre kategorier: Anhörigas tankar om första tiden efter beskedet om diagnosen, anhörigas livskvalitet och sjukdomens påverkan på relationen. I resultatet framgick det att de anhörigas erfarenheter av att vårda sin make/maka skiljde sig mycket åt. Anhöriga beskrev att deras livskvalitet och relation med sin partner förändrades på flera sätt i takt med sjukdomens förlopp. Slutsats Examensarbetet visar tydligt på hur viktiga de anhöriga är för sin make/maka. För att kunna bedriva en god vård i hemmet åt sin partner bör vårdpersonal kontinuerligt uppmärksamma och bekräfta den insats de anhöriga gör. Män och kvinnors erfarenheter av att vårda skiljde sig på flera sätt, i form av stöd och bekräftelse från omgivningen. Författarna anser att de anhöriga idag, oberoende av kön, bör få det stöd de är i behov av.

Nürtingen, FH, Diplomarb., 2004. / Betreuer: Rudolf Sick.