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The purpose of this paper was to assess the economic impact of investment in different animal welfare–enhancing flooring solutions in Swedish dairy farming.

The authors developed a bio-economic model and used stochastic partial budgeting approach to simulate the economic consequences of enhancing solid and slatted concrete floors with soft rubber covering.

The findings highlight that keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floor surfaces with soft rubber coverings is a profitable solution, compared with keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floors without a soft covering. The profit per cow when kept on a solid concrete floor with soft rubber covering increased by 13%–16% depending on the breed.

Promoting farm investments such as improvement in flooring solution, which have both economic and animal welfare incentives, is a potential way of promoting sustainable dairy production. Farmers may make investments in improved floors, resulting in enhanced animal welfare and economic outcomes necessary for sustaining dairy production.

This literature review indicated that the economic impact of investment in specific types of floor improvement solutions, investment costs and financial outcomes have received little attention. This study provides insights needed for a more informed decision-making process when selecting optimal flooring solutions for new and renovated barns that improve both animal welfare and ease the burden on farmers and public financial support.

Treatment satisfaction of different mental disorders is still poorly understood, but of high clinical interest. Inpatients of a general psychiatric care hospital were asked to fill out questionnaires on satisfaction and clinical variables at admission and discharge. On the basis of an exploratory approach, differences in treatment satisfaction among diagnostic groups were examined by means of one-way analysis of variance. Potential associated clinical and socio-demographic variables were studied using multi/univariate tests. Patients with personality disorders (n=18) showed a significantly lower treatment satisfaction (ZUF-8, Zurich Satisfaction Questionnaire) and a slightly lower improvement of symptoms (CGI, Clinical Global Impression) and global functioning (GAF, Global Assessment of Functioning scale) than that of other diagnostic groups (n=95). Satisfaction in patients with personality disorders correlated much stronger with the symptom improvement and slightly with the functioning level than in patients without personality disorders. Interestingly, in patients with personality disorders psychopharmacological treatment in general (present versus not present) was independent from satisfaction. This exploratory investigation suggests that a lower satisfaction of patients with personality disorders in a general psychiatric hospital is mainly based on a reduced improvement of the symptoms and of the global functioning level.

The purpose of this paper is to address the concept of participatory research (PR) in terms of its values and challenges in project work.

A participative research approach was used in which researchers worked collaboratively with key stakeholders involved in the development of a digital network model for expert diagnostics. The approach involved research and data gathering in six work packages: first, participation at workshops, including the presentation of a preliminary research agenda; second, presentation of a revised research agenda; third, interviews with project managers and steering committee members; fourth, feedback sessions; fifth, participation at a project conference, including additional feedback sessions; and sixth, concluding interviews with project managers.

The findings suggest that PR might strengthen project work through challenging interview questions and clear feedback. PR might empower the project manager by illuminating challenges and possibilities in the project process.

Project managers may use PR as one strategy to empower project work.

Despite the vast research on projects and project management, researchers and practitioners are still looking for ways to advance project work. This paper contributes with knowledge on how PR may advance project work.

People’s tendency to overestimate their ability to control random events, known as illusion of control, can affect financial decisions under uncertainty. This study developed an artifactual field experiment on illusion of control for a farm machinery investment.

In an experiment with two treatments, the individual farmer was either given or not given a sense of control over a random outcome. After each decision, the authors elicited perceived control, and a questionnaire collected additional indirect measures of illusion of control from 78 German farmers and 10 farm advisors.

The results did not support preregistered hypotheses of the presence of illusion of control. This null result was robust over multiple outcomes and model specifications. The findings demonstrate that cognitive biases may be small and difficult to replicate.

The sample is not representative for the German farming population. The authors discuss why the estimated treatment effect may represent a lower bound of the true effect.

Illusion of control is well-studied in laboratory settings, but little is known about the extent to which farmers’ behavior is influenced by illusion of control.

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal’s perspective.

A collaborative approach was used in this research project, and principals were asked to complete portfolio assignments. Their answers to those portfolio assignments were analysed by the research team and subsequently compared to total quality management values.

Existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work are presented and sorted into 13 and 17 groups, respectively. The principals desire four times more methodologies than they are presently using to promote systematic quality work, and the results show that they must extend their methodologies to support TQM values.

This research is based on answers collected from 18 principals in one municipality in Sweden.

The use of the cornerstone model provides a framework to illustrate the application of TQM in preschools.

Principals struggle to find time for systemic quality work. The presented results can be used to work systematically with quality in preschools and other organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test the thermal interface materials (TIM) for application in assembly of semiconductor chips to package. Good adhesion properties (>5 MPa shear strength) and low thermal interface resistance (better than for SAC solders) are the goal of this research.

Mechanical and thermal properties of TIM joints between gold plated contacts of chip and substrate were investigated. Sintering technique based on Ag pastes was applied for purpose of this study. Performance properties were assessed by shear force tests and thermal measurements. Scanning electron microscopy was used for microstructural observations of cross-section of formed joints.

It was concluded that the best properties are achieved for pastes containing spherical Ag particles of dozens of micrometer size with flake shaped Ag particles of few micrometers size. Sintering temperature at 230°C and application of 1 MPa force on the chip during sintering gave the higher adhesion and the lowest thermal interface resistance.

The new material based on Ag paste containing mixtures of Ag particles of different size (form nanometer to dozens of microns) and shape (spherical, flake) suspended in resin was proposed. Joints prepared using sintering technique and Ag pastes at 230°C with applied pressure shows better mechanical and thermal than other TIM materials such as thermal grease, thermal gel or thermally conductive adhesive. Those material could enable electronic device operation at temperatures above 200°C, currently unavailable for Si-based power electronics.

The lean philosophy has demonstrated its effectiveness to improve firms' operational performance. However, the impact of lean practices on financial performance is still unclear due to the poor understanding of the link between operational and financial measures and the conflictive results obtained by previous research. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review to understand whether lean companies have improved their financial performance. Moreover, this article aims to uncover research gaps in the literature and examine which time spans of research have been considered to analyse both the degree of lean implementation and the measurement of financial outcomes.

A systematic literature review has been conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles that analyse the effect of the lean production paradigm on the financial performance measures of manufacturing companies. Then, the identified articles were processed using a combination of descriptive and content analyses methods to draw new conclusions, uncover gaps and find novel paths for research.

Various authors indicate that lean initiatives lead to an enhancement of financial performance measures. JIT and TQM lean practice bundles are suggested as the best enablers of financial performance in terms of sales and profit. In contrast, according to some scholars, lean does not necessarily improve companies' financial results if it is not properly implemented.

Several studies have focused on analysing the effects of lean on performance. However, only a small part of the literature has addressed the study of the effects of lean practices on financial performance metrics. The originality of this study lies in the investigation of the connections between lean practices and financial performance measures found in the literature. The outcome is the identification of various possible positive impacts of some lean practices on financial metrics.

With more cities aiming to achieve climate neutrality, identifying the funding to support these plans is essential. The purpose of this paper is to exploit the present of a structured green bonds framework in Sweden to investigate the typology of abatement projects Swedish municipalities invested in and understand their effectiveness.

Marginal abatement cost curves of the green bond measures are constructed by using the financial and abatement data provided by municipalities on an annual basis.

The results highlight the economic competitiveness of clean energy production, measured in abatement potential per unit of currency, even when compared to other emerging technologies that have attracted the interest of policymakers. A comparison with previous studies on the cost efficiency of carbon capture storage reveals that clean energy projects, especially wind energy production, can contribute to the reduction of emissions in a more efficient way. The Swedish carbon tax is a good incentive tool for investments in clean energy projects.

The improvement concerning previous applications is twofold: the authors expand the financial considerations to include the whole life-cycle costs, and the authors consider all the greenhouse gases. This research constitutes a prime in using financial and environmental data produced by local governments to assess the effectiveness of their environmental measures.