Injection molding is widely used to manufacture plastic parts with good surface finish, dimensional stability and low cost. The common examples of parts manufactured by injection molding include toys, utensils, and casings of various electronic products. The process of mold design to generate these complex shapes is iterative and time consuming, and requires great expertise in the field. As a result, a significant amount of the final product cost can be attributed to the expenses incurred during the product’s design. After designing the mold segments, it is necessary to machine these segments with minimum cost using an efficient tool-path. The tool-path planning process also adds to the overall mold cost. The process of injection molding can be simplified and made to be more cost effective if the processes of mold design and tool-path generation can be automated. This work focuses on the automation of mold design from a given part design and the automation of tool-path generation for manufacturing mold segments. The hypothesis examined in this thesis is that the automatic identification of mold features can reduce the human efforts required to design molds. It is further hypothesised that the human effort required in many downstream processes such as mold component machining can also be reduced with algorithmic automation of otherwise time consuming decisions. Automatic design of dies and molds begins with the part design being provided as a solid model. The solid model of a part is a database of its geometry and topology. The automatic mold design process uses this database to identify an undercut-free parting direction, for recognition of mold features and identification of parting lines for a given parting direction, and for generation of entities such as parting surfaces, core, cavity and side-cores. The methods presented in this work are analytical in nature and work with the extended set of part topologies and geometries unlike those found in the literature. Moreover, the methods do not require discretizing the part geometry to design its mold segments, unlike those found in the literature that result in losing the part definition. Once the mold features are recognized and parting lines are defined, core, cavity and side-cores are generated. This work presents algorithms that recognize the entities in the part solid model that contribute to the design of the core, cavity and side-cores, extract the entities, and use them in the design of these elements. The developed algorithms are demonstrated on a variety of parts that cover a wide range of features. The work also presents a method for automatic tool-path generation that takes the designed core/cavity and produces a multi-stage tool-path to machine it from raw stock. The tool-path generation process begins by determining tool-path profiles and tool positions for the rough machining of the part in layers. Typically roughing is done with large aggressive tools to reduce the machining time; and roughing leaves uncut material. After generating a roughing tool-path for each layer, the machining is simulated and the areas left uncut are identified to generate a clean-up tool-path for smaller sized tools. The tool-path planning is demonstrated using a part having obstacles within the machining region. The simulated machining is presented in this work. This work extends the accessibility analysis by retaining the topology information and using it to recognize a larger domain of features including intersecting features, filling a void in the literature regarding a method that could recognize complex intersecting features during an automated mold design process. Using this information, a larger variety of new mold intersecting features are classified and recognized in this approach. The second major contribution of the work was to demonstrate that the downstream operations can also benefit from algorithmic decision making. This is shown by automatically generating roughing and clean-up tool-paths, while reducing the machining time by machining only those areas that have uncut material. The algorithm can handle cavities with obstacles in them. The methodology has been tested on a number of parts.

The amount of energy consumed during a tillage operation depends on three categories of parameters: (1) soil parameters (2) tool parameters and (3) operating parameters. Although many research works have been reported on the effects of those parameters on tillage energy, the exact number of affecting parameters and the contribution of each parameter in total energy requirement have not been specified. A study with the objectives of specifying energy consuming components and determining the amount of each component for a vertical narrow tool, particularly at high speeds of operation, was conducted in the soil bin facilities of the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering, University of Saskatchewan. <p>Based on studies by Blumel (1986) and Kushwaha and Linke (1996), four main energy consuming components were assumed: <p>(1) energy requirements associated with soil-tool interactions;<p>(2) energy requirements associated with interactions between tilled and fixed soil masses;<p>(3) energy requirements associated with soil deformation; and <p>(4) energy requirements associated with the acceleration of the tilled soil. <p> Energy requirement of a vertical narrow tool was calculated based on the draft requirement of the tool measured in the soil bin. The effects of three variables, moisture content, operating depth and forward speed, were studied at different levels: (1) moisture content at 14% and 20%; (2) depth at 40, 80, 120 and 160 mm; and (3) speed at 1, 8, 16 and 24 km h-1. Total energy requirement was divided into these four components based upon the procedure developed in the research. <p>Regression equations for different energy components were developed based on experimental data of two replicates and then validated by extra soil bin experiments conducted at same soil and tool but different operational conditions. The set up of energy components data in the model development showed good correlation with the available experimental data for all four components. Coefficients of all regression equations showed a first order energy-moisture content relationship best applicable to those equations of energy components. For the acceleration component, energy-depth relationship at all speed levels resulted in an equation which included first and second orders of depth. In contrast, if only two higher levels of speed were used in the regression model, the relationship between acceleration energy and depth resulted in the second order of depth. When experimental data of acceleration energy at 8, 16, and 24 km h-1 speeds were used in the regression equation, the acceleration energy-speed relationship resulted in both linear and quadratic relationships. It was concluded that for the tool and soil conditions used in the experiments, 8 km h-1 speed resulted in only linear relationship. On the other hand, 16 and 24 km h-1 speeds resulted in a quadratic relationship. Therefore, for all 3 speeds used in experiments, both linear and quadratic relationships were obtained. Considering that the tool was operating at high speeds, this research is expected to contribute valuable experimental data to the researchers working in the field of soil dynamics.

It has been considered that spam is one of the worst advertising tools in the Internet because of wide range of porno, Viagra, luxury brands’ replicas and other unwanted mailings all over the world; nevertheless, a lot of companies continue to use this tool for products’ or services’ introduction to their potential clients and partners. According to the author’s personal four-year-experience in marketing field, the mostly asked question by companies is how to advertise the product or service to new potential partners or clients using spam without losing the reputation of the company. The author wishes to investigate whether it is possible by carefully thought-out and aimed at the right market spam advertisement to draw people’s attention. This study employs partly quantitative and partly qualitative research approach. Empirical data collection is organized through questionnaires and personal mailing experiment. Random people who filled in the first questionnaire were from the author’s personal network all over the world. Regarding the second questionnaire the author has chosen to research Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as the area of medium-sized companies’ location. The author used 2 million American e-mail addresses in her personal mailing experiment. In order to analyze the findings through a set of graphical techniques exploratory data analysis was used. Both questionnaires consisted from dichotomous (Yes-no) questions, alternative questions, wh-questions and descriptive questions, analysis of which incorporated through the literature review. In addition to this, personal mailing experiment is present in the study where the author tests the attitude towards spam and the perception of advertisement based on the literature review as well. It became clear that it is possible by carefully thought-out and aimed at the right market spam advertisement to draw people’s attention. The author’s experiment has proved that there are some people or the e-mail users who actually buy products advertised in spam e-mails. One of the factors that influence attitude towards e-mails might be because of the particular spam usefulness or low time consumption but the success of the online advertisement depends on people’s perception. In the particular case the attitude towards advertisement was determined by advertisement’s execution and feelings transferred by it. It is important to remember that advertisers have to take main nuances into account when introducing products or services to new clients or partners, such as clear understanding of spam mailing goals, topics of interest, perception of visual information, time of advertisement, and trust.

Bakgrund: QR-koder är ett nytt marknadsföringsverktyg som möjliggör för företag att förmedla ett länkat innehåll direkt till konsumenten. Den största utmaningen för marknadsförare idag är att konsumenter inte vet vad QR-koder är och vad det innebär att använda tekniken. Forskningsfråga: Hur kan företag få kunder att använda QR-koder för att förmedla ett högre kundvärde? Syfte: Genom att beskriva QR-koder i marknadsföring, värdeskapande och kundbeteende samt analysera dessa faktorer är syftet med denna studie att skapa bättre förståelse för hur företag kan påverka kunder att använda QR-koder som ny teknik i avsikt att öka kundvärdet. Metod: I denna studie har QR-koder behandlats som ett fall där vi valt att utgå från en abduktiv ansats då det valda uppsatsämnet sedan tidigare är relativt outforskat. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom kvalitativa intervjuer med såväl företag som kunder. Slutsats: Genom analys av insamlat material har studien visat att företag bör kommunicera tydliga instruktioner om hur konsumenten ska gå tillväga för att ta del av QR-koden. Kodens innehåll måste vara av intresse och förmedla ett värde för mottagaren för att ge motivation till fortsatt användning. Vidare kan intresset öka genom att inkludera tekniken i mer kreativa sammanhang och i stimulerade miljöer. / Background: QR-codes are a new marketing tool which enables companies to communicate a linked content directly to the consumer. The biggest challenge for marketers today is the fact that consumers do not know what QR-codes are and aware of what they can benefit from using them. Research question: How can companies influence customers to use QR-codes in order to create a higher customer value? Purpose: By describing QR-codes in marketing, value creation and consumer behaviour and then analyse these factors is the purpose with this study to create a better understanding of how companies can influence customers to use QR-codes as a new technology in order to create higher customer value. Methodology: QR-codes have in this study been considered as a case where we have chosen to use an abductive approach since the subject studied in this thesis is relatively unexplored. The empirical material has been gathered through qualitative interviews with both companies and customers. Conclusion: This study has through analysis of gathered material shown that companies should communicate clear instructions of how the consumer should use QR-codes. The content of the code has to be of interest and create value for the user in order to motivate further usage. Interest can also increase by using the technology in more creative contexts and in stimulated environments.

In recent years, online discount coupons provided through deal-of-the-day websites have grownrapidly. Perceived as a positive opportunity for local merchants to promote themselves in themarket, a mutual exchange occurs as consumers are able to simultaneously benefit from promotionsand discounts on services and products. In fact, studies and research (the literature) can unite on the notion that online price promotionshave an immediate positive impact on sales. However, there is less agreement regarding repeatpurchasing effects. Promotion usage effects may exist in which repurchase rates are negativelyaffected by the fact that a promotion was used to make a purchase. In that respect, the problem wehave identified concerns the customers likeliness of returning to the local merchant after redeeminga coupon from the online discount coupon website. With regard to this matter, the purpose of our thesis was to describe and analyze the factors that influence the likelihood of repurchase after a transaction on an online discount website. In orderto fulfill our purpose, we conducted a quantitative study with a deductive approach on thecustomers of Groupon Stockholm. The empirical findings of our study show that price, quality and service are important factors for repurchasing, while the location of a business has an indifferent role. We further conclude that the customers appear to be loyal to the online discount websites and respectively, the benefits gained from these websites rather than the local merchants and businesses. Thus, we round up this thesis by including various managerial implications with respect to the local merchant’s perspective and strategies of improving a relational customer relationship.

Att sjuksköterskor ställer giltiga omvårdnadsdiagnoser är betydelsefullt för att patienter ska få den omvårdnad som de behöver. Trots att denna förmåga är något som sjuksköterskeutbildningen är ålagd att utrusta blivande sjuksköterskor med är omvårdnadsdiagnostisk förmåga inte utrett hos sjuksköterskestudenter. Inget verktyg för att mäta denna förmåga finns tillgänglig i Sverige idag. Syftet med denna metodologiska studie var att utveckla ett verktyg som avsåg mäta omvårdnadsdiagnostisk förmåga. Genom kognitiva intervjuer, i dialog med experter samt genom att studenter och sjuksköterskor testade att genomföra en omvårdnadsdiagnostisk uppgift utifrån två patientfall utvecklades verktyget stegvis. Verktyget validerades mot omvårdnadslitteratur och mätinstrument samt mot en expertgrupp. Förutom den omvårdnadsdiagnostiska uppgiften utgjordes verktyget även av ett poängsättningsformulär, manual samt en rättningsmall. Studien frambringade ett verktyg som var känsligt för kunskapsvariationer och föreföll ha utrymme för förbättrade resultat. Poängsättningsformuläret med tillhörande manual och rättningsmall visade en hög reliabilitet. Det framtagna verktyget mäter förmågan att urskilja relevanta kännetecken, göra en analys av kännetecken och etiologi samt att rubricera diagnosen; d.v.s. analytisk förmåga, logiskt resonemang och till viss del yrkeskunnande i omvårdnad. Omvårdnadsdiagnostisk förmåga utgörs av fler delförmågor och alla dessa går inte att mäta med det framtagna verktyget. / The fact that nurses identify valid nursing diagnoses is important in order for patients to recieve the nursing care they need. Even though it is imposed on the nurse education to equip the future nurses with this ability, diagnostic competency in nursing isn’t tested among nurse students. There is in Sweden today no tool available for measuring diagnostic competency. The aim of this methodological study was to develop a tool that indended to measure diagnostic competency in nursing. The tool was developed gradually through cognitive interviews, in dialogue with experts and by having students and nurses complete a test in nursing diagnostics based on two case studies. The tool was validated in relation to nursing literature and measuring instruments along with an expert group. In addition to the test in diagnostic competency, the tool was also constituted of a point form, a manual for awarding points and a correcting model. The study created a tool that was sensitive for variations in knowledge within the test group and that seemed to have room for improved results. The point form, the manual for awarding points and the correcting model showed a high reliability. The abilities that the tool measure is the capability to distinguish relevant characteristics, make an analysis of the characteristics and the etiology together with labeling the diagnosis; i.e. analytic ability, logical reasoning and to some extent professional skills in nursing. Diagnostic competency embodies several different abilities and all of these can’t be measured by the developed tool.

Safety is very important for our society. In contrast, it is hard to define what this term really means. Nevertheless, one area that is considered important for safety involves accident prevention. Many methods exist within this area which aims at preventing accidents from happening. One accident prevention method is called ‘The Safety Scanning Tool (SST)’. The study conducted in this thesis aimed at exploring whether the SST could improve the safety understanding of experts from the domain of aviation. The term ‘safety understanding’, as it is used in this thesis, refers to the understanding of central scientific concepts underlying safety. These concepts relate to the area of accident prevention and they were the results of a literature study on safety. Thus, the safety understanding was addressed on two levels of abstraction. The first general abstraction level concerned the basic assumptions for studying an organization’s safety culture relating to Schein’s (1992) framework cited by Guldenmund (2000). This relates to the area of accident prevention in a more general way. The second more specific abstraction level regarded 21 different safety issues important for accident prevention. These originated from the area of resilience engineering. Furthermore, this study was structured as a field experiment using a pre-post test and a within-group design.  In order to measure the different experts’ safety understanding, the data were gathered with the help of two surveys before and after the experts’ used the SST. The SST was applied to two groups of experts. In the first group, they were six people, and, in the second 16. The questions in the surveys were created with the help of the above mentioned literature study on safety. The results were analyzed with the help of the statistics program SPSS. In addition, the results were analyzed with the help of sources from academic literature. These were used in order to determine whether there was an improvement of the safety understanding or not. Based on the results from this study, it can be concluded that undergoing the SST caused several improvements of the experts’ safety understanding. These improvements were found in both groups of experts and on both abstraction levels of the safety understanding. However, one result relating to the basic assumption level in the second group of experts could be interpreted both as an improvement and as a decrease of the safety understanding. The results of this study indicate not only that the SST has the ability to detect safety problems in an early state, before they can develop to the outcome of an accident. It has also the ability to enhance its user’s safety understanding relating to factors important for accident prevention.

The change in the present global world puts pressure on companies to develop new strategies for gaining competitive advantage. The new fast technology leads companies to try to outshine one another to reach further into the world of innovation. Sharing knowledge online demands brave and huge changes from managers and employees. The use of new tools for faster more open communication requires a change of mindset from the involved parties. Our aim was to determine if the internal open communication was the solution to a more open knowledge sharing work climate. The Purpose of our study is to investigate if knowledge sharing indirectly foster a more learning and innovative organization. Which leads us to one of our main questions: can a wikis- tool for internal communication be an enabler for a more open and knowledge sharing working climate? In this thesis we are focusing on the new communication tool for a better internal collaboration which has the ability to facilitate the work for employees if it is implemented in a positive manner. All our research was performed in Ramböll a global company that gave us useful access and information for our thesis. We performed our study by using qualitative research such as interviews, dialogue and observations. The result from our study showed us how the open communication and knowledge sharing can strengthen the core communication to foster a more learning and innovative company. Open communication as enabler of the power of innovation in global companies.

Purpose – The purpose of our thesis is to introduce a new approach to help small and medium third party logistics service providers (3PLs) to develop and improve their Reverse logistics.   Design/methodology/approach – A case study was adopted, and a qualitative questionnaire and face-to-face interview were used to collect the fundamental data. In addition, the multi-criteria decision-making tool-AHP and the Reverse Logistics audit model were used to analyze the case and to solve the problem of 3PLs in Reverse Logistics improvement.   Findings – Under the fierce competition and in today’s volatile market, the Reverse Logistics is considered as a new competitive advantage to many 3PLs. However, the effective solutions in instructing 3PLs how to develop and improve their Reverse Logistics competence are still very scarce. Based on these, a new approach will be presented in this thesis to help 3PLs to solve problem.   Limitations – There are two main limitations in our paper, which emerge in the two models we adopted. Regarding the Reverse Logistics audit model, we need more data of the case company to support our research. For the AHP method, the limitation is:  the fact that general assumptions were used to provide correlative data in computation, and complex computation was simplified in order to show calculative processes clearly.   Practical implications – FLB, the case company will be researched to verify the practical implication of our new approach. We believe through our approach, lots of small and medium size 3PLs will find it easier to get a holistic view of their RL competence, and know how to develop or improve it.   Originality/value – How to evaluate and assess the RL competence will be presented separately from inside view of 3PLs and outside view of their customers. AHP and self-made RL audit model will be used to achieve then respectively.   Keywords Reverse logistics, Analytic hierarchy process, Assessment tool, and 3PLs    Paper type Case study/ Research paper

Purpose: my aim was to explore ways that teachers can support students with dyslexia and what/ which tools some teachers / special education teachers use to facilitate students. Method: I used a quantitative method by interviewing some regular teachers and special education teachers Results: In my study, I learned how some teachers can support students by reading loud to them; a main task for the teachers could be to create the love of reading for the students. That task was reinforced by students' self-image.