Med mål i fokus - En fallstudie om lågkonjunkturens påverkan på motivation

Syftet med studien är att utifrån Målsättningsteorin nå en förståelse för hur den rådande lågkonjunkturen kan ha påverkat skolans kunskapsmål och budgetmål och vilken inverkan detta kan ha på de anställdas motivation. I vår uppsats har vi tillämpat en kvalitativ ansats. Vidare har vi genomfört en fallstudie av Skolan där vi via kvalitativa intervjuer har samlat in empiri. Studiens teoretiska ramverk består huvudsakligen av Målsättningsteorin, men även av övergripande teorier kring mål och motivation. Empirin består av insamlad data från 13 intervjuer med anställda inom två olika enheter på vår fallorganisation Skolan. Resultat: Den rådande lågkonjunkturen har påverkat Skolans budgetmål och kan i längden påverka Skolans kunskapsmål. Vidare har personalens arbetsmotivation utifrån målsättningsteorin ökat något. Vi har även identifierat en skillnad i hur enheterna Alfa och Beta arbetar för att nå målen. Denna skillnad har dock varken uppkommit eller påverkats av den rådande lågkonjunkturen

Kvinnor i fredsbyggande: En undersökning om hur kvinnor har inkluderats i fredsbyggandet i Kosovo.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur lokala kvinnor inkluderats och deltagit i fredsbyggandeprocesser i Kosovo sedan Kosovokrigets slut år 1999. Detta analyseras ur ett feministiskt perspektiv med hjälp av FN:s Resolution 1325, som handlar om kvinnor i konflikter och postkonfliktuella samhällen. Undersökningen är en fallstudie som bygger på empiriskt material i form av rapporter från organisationer verksamma i Kosovo och tidigare forskning om ämnet. Uppsatsen undersöker hur internationella och lokala aktörer inkluderat de lokala kvinnorna i fredsbyggandet, både på formell och på informell nivå, samt hur Resolution 1325 har implementerats i praktiken. Slutsatserna visar främst att kvinnor inte inkluderas tillräckligt i fredsbyggandeprocesserna i Kosovo

HOW CHANGES IN COGNITIVE AUTOMATION CAN AFFECT OPERATOR PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY

To predict system performance, understanding what affects operator performance and productivity is important. This notion was tested in a LEGO experiment including 40 students. After introducing changes in assembly instructions and material fa\ue7ade operator performance and productivity was increased. The aggregated results gave an indication of how cognitive automation affects the operators’ initial assembly performance. Industrial studies are needed to ensure observed trends and to further study the impact of cognitive automation characteristics. The trends however point toward that cognitive support has an impact on the final assembly and it is therefore possible to achieve better operator performance if instructions and material fa\ue7ade are improved

HOW CHANGES IN COGNITIVE AUTOMATION CAN AFFECT OPERATOR PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY

To predict system performance, understanding what affects operator performance and productivity is important. This notion was tested in a LEGO experiment including 40 students. After introducing changes in assembly instructions and material fa\ue7ade operator performance and productivity was increased. The aggregated results gave an indication of how cognitive automation affects the operators’ initial assembly performance. Industrial studies are needed to ensure observed trends and to further study the impact of cognitive automation characteristics. The trends however point toward that cognitive support has an impact on the final assembly and it is therefore possible to achieve better operator performance if instructions and material fa\ue7ade are improved

Quality indicators of nutritional care practice in elderly care

Objectives: The aim is to explore the effects of antecedent, structural and process quality indicators of nutritional care practice on meal satisfaction and screened nutritional status among older adults in residential care homes. Design: Data for this Swedish cross-sectional study regarding older adults living in residential care homes were collected by i) a national questionnaire, ii) records from the quality registry Senior Alert, iii) data from an Open Comparison survey of elderly care in 2013/2014. The data represented 1154 individuals in 117 of 290 Swedish municipalities. Measurements: Meal satisfaction (%) and adequate nutritional status, screened by the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), were the two outcome variables assessed through their association with population density of municipalities and residents' age, together with 12 quality indicators pertaining to structure and process domains in the Donabedian model of care. Results: Meal satisfaction was associated with rural and urban municipalities, with the structure quality indicators: local food policies, private meal providers, on-site cooking, availability of clinical/community dietitians, food service dietitians, and with the process quality indicators: meal choice, satisfaction surveys, and 'meal councils'. Adequate nutritional status was positively associated with availability of clinical/community dietitians, and energy and nutrient calculated menus, and negatively associated with chilled food production systems. Conclusion: Municipality characteristics and structure quality indicators had the strongest associations with meal satisfaction, and quality indicators with local characteristics emerge as important for meal satisfaction. Nutritional competence appears vital for residents to be well-nourished

Understanding disturbance handling in complex assembly: analysis of complexity index method results

Disturbance handling is crucial for managing production complexity in final assembly. Due to that complexity in a system causes uncertainties and assembly errors, it is important to further investigate what causes disturbance handling and how it can be managed to support operators working with complexity. Production complexity was assessed through the method CompleXity Index (CXI), which captures operators’ view of a station. A statistical analysis of the CXI data was performed and relations between available time and use of work instructions and also seniority and empowerment were found. In addition no relation between empowerment and stress was seen which indicates that perceived empowerment and its relation to stress should be studied further

Civilsamhället som aktör i fredsbyggande processer - en komparativ fåfallstudie mellan Moçambique och Rwanda

Genom en komparativ fåfallstudie mellan Rwanda och Moçambique undersöks hur den fredsbyggande processen i ett postkonfliktuellt samhälle påverkas av civilsamhället som aktör beroende på dess förutsättningar för politiskt utrymme. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är Anna K. Jarstads teori om de fyra fredsbyggande dilemman som bygger på tesen om att fredsbyggande och demokratisering kan verka som motverkande processer. Slutsatsen som dras är att civilsamhällets möjlighet att verka som en positiv förändrandringsaktör är beroende av hur staten och det internationella samfundet hanterar dess politiska utrymme i samhället. Till detta hör att skapa förutsättningar för att säkra och legitimera civilsamhällets plats i fredsbyggande processer

Validation of the complexity index method at three manufacturing companies

In order to manage increasing numbers of product variants, tools that can reduce or manage production complexity are vital. The paper describes CompleXity Index (CXI), an index-based method and tool that assess the complexity and difficulty of work at an industrial workstation. CXI was validated at three Swedish manufacturing companies studying the correctness of the calculation, usage as a prediction tool and the view of different roles. In all three cases, CXI was seen as a useful tool to evaluate the operator-perceived complexity of a workstation

Protocol for optical clearing and imaging of fluorescently labeled ex vivo rat brain slices

Tissue clearing is commonly used for whole-brain imaging but seldom used for brain slices. Here, we present a simple protocol to slice, immunostain, and clear sections of adult rat brains for subsequent high-resolution confocal imaging. The protocol does not require toxic reagents or specialized equipment. We also provide instructions for culturing of rat brain slices free floating on permeable culture inserts, maintained in regular CO2 incubators, and handled only at media change

Validation of the complexity index method at three manufacturing companies

Abstract. In order to manage increasing numbers of product variants, tools that can reduce or manage production complexity are vital. The paper describes CompleXity Index (CXI), an index-based method and tool that assess the complexity and difficulty of work at an industrial workstation. CXI was validated at three Swedish manufacturing companies studying the correctness of the calculation, usage as a prediction tool and the view of different roles. In all three cases, CXI was seen as a useful tool to evaluate the operator-perceived complexity of a workstation