The main aim of the thesis is, first, to present a theoretical and methodological perspective for the study of postmodern theory in historiography; second, to discuss and evaluate earlier research on the subject; and third, to show that historians must be more self-reflexive about their explicit as well as implicit theoretical and philosphical premises. My theoretical and methodological inspiration comes mainly from three directions: first, the discourse analytic theory propagated by the political theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe; second, concepts from Lacanian psychoanalysis as propagated by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek; and, finally, the later Ludwig Wittgensteins theory of language.Using this perspective a minor case study is made based on five dissertations in history at Lund University from 1999 to 2006 as source material. This in order to indicate a strong influence of postmodern theory in Swedish historiography. It is further argued that it is legitimate to speak of one postmodernism, not in spite, but because of the fact that postmodernism is a semantically highly paradoxical, contradictory and unstable phenomenon. The main results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: (i) earlier research on the subject is simplified and unreflected and must be abandoned, because (ii) postmodernism seen as a discursive whole, i.e.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka SPIRA-projektets deltagares uppfattningar om motivation och uppfattningar om projektets eventuella påverkan på motivationen. Samt uppfattningar hos några tidigare deltagare i projektet. SPIRA-projektets syfte är att stärka kompetensen hos sina deltagare och målgruppen är individer som varit arbetslösa i ett år eller mer, alternativt sjukskrivna i minst sex månader. Tidigare forskning inom arbetslöshet och motivation tyder på att de individer som drivs av en motivation med en hög grad autonomi har en större chans att vara lyckosamma. De anses även vara mer ihärdiga i sitt arbetssökande och har ett högre välmående än de som drivs av motivation med en låg grad autonomi.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to investigate how a local authority acts when anunexpected event occur. It´s done with a basis in two crisis communicationstheories; Coombs SCCT theory and Gilpin and Murphys complexity theory,which largely are each other?s opposites. To conduct the study, a case studyof the floods that hit Kristinehamn in the summer of 2014 was carried out,which gave us a good opportunity the achieve the aim of the study. Themethod used was qualitative research interviews.

Master thesis studying the use of multimedia on CD-ROM in a library setting by analysis ofqualitative interviews with nineteen persons.The thesis relates the study to some relevant issues in human-computer interface (HCI) researchand to the commercial market for multimedia CD-ROM products. Three main types ofuse were described by the persons interviewed: recreational, information seeking and usingmultimedia to learn more about using computers. Children and young people interviewed mademost use of the multimedia provided, whereas adults thought it to be less valuable as a sourceof knowledge for them personally.HCI research shows various results of using multimedia for educational purposes. Thecommercial market is dominated by American products which can have a negative effect onthe use of multimedia in Swedish public libraries..

Teachers and special education teachers play a vital role in the creation of a study environment that fosters productivity in students. The current study aims to further expand the knowledge regarding teacher?s perception of common work with developing an optimal study environment within the classroom and the educational institution. In order to achieve this, qualitative interviews have been performed and study results analyzed according Nilholm´s model of the three different perspectives on special education: The critical perspective, the compensatory perspective and the dilemma perspective.The study results show that the concept of order and study environment is not clearly defined among the interviewees. However, the concept appears to presuppose the teacher?s responsibility to create the sense of security and effective study environment to those students who express the wish to educate themselves (Children make the things right only if they have been shown the correct way to do it).

I have been studied Microsoft SharePoint on behalf of Prevas in Karlstad.The purpose of my work was to see if Microsoft SharePoint was what Prevas wanted as a replacement for the existing intranet, which they are not satisfied with today.My work was a kind of foundation for Prevas so they could make a decision in this matter.The work began with installing SharePoint at one single server at Prevas. We used a virtual technology (VMware) at the installation, which can be described as that we created two ?miniservers? in a bigger server, one for SharePoint and the other for storing the information. This kind of technology is strongly advancing. The main work consisted of setting up the structure for the navigation and designing both the portal and the local homepage for Prevas Karlstad.

This study investigates if, and in that case, how design theory is applied in practice in the web development field. Prior research has focused on methods used in the web development field. We wanted to study the designers role in a web design process by comparing existing designer roles with design theory literature. We did qualitative interviews with two practitioners at two different communication agencies in northern Sweden. Based on our qualitative data and literature review we have concluded that a designer has to devote a lot of energy on requirements engineering in order to develop a clear understanding of the design situation..

In this essay I have described ecocriticism as a theory with several different subfields that are inspired by a cross-disciplinary approach, such as green culture studies, ecofeminism, and postcolonial ecocriticism. After a short summary of the background of ecocritical studies I analyze the various subfields, take a closer look at their contents and present various examples of ecocritical thinking. A presentation of the commonly used concepts within the discipline and some reflections on these is followed by my final discussion, where I state that even though ecocriticism is a relatively new theory and the concept doesn?t have a clear definition as yet, it is in my view a useful tool for analysis and can with time make valuable contributions to literary studies, not least by introducing a number of new perspectives..

The purpose of this study has been to examine how the image of the gambler is described by studying a report published by Folkhälsoinstituet [FHI] and a number of chosen articles from the Swedish Evening Press. Discourse theory has been used both as theory, together with social constructionism, and as a research method. The main conclusions of the study are that three different discourses can be identified: the normal gambler, the professional gambler and the problem gambler. The image of the problem gambler is described as a deviant and problematic minority characterized by loss of control, irrational thoughts and dissociative behaviour. The construction of the problem gambler fills three possible purposes for the state: As a solvable problem to handle criticism against negative consequences of gambling, as an argument to avoid competition on the market and as an individual characterized by loss of control in order to legitimize and make the construction of the normal gambler possible..

The study examines the meaning of having a dog in the workplace of personnel who work with therapy. The purpose was to examine the personnel?s view of dogs in their work envi-ronment. The study uses two theories. One is ?psychosocial work environment? and the other theory used is ?symbolic interactionism?.

The thesis examines how sex/gender and sexuality are represented through text and images within the Internet community Sylvia whose primary target group is girls. Through an examination of the aesthetics, the member rules and the choices that constitute the framework for the site, the study observes Sylvia as a cultural context. In relation to this setting, the ten most visited member profiles at the time for the study are more closely examined. These profiles are studied from a constructivist view of sex/gender and are analysed from the perspective of feminist and quee r theory as well as in the light of feministic debates concerning sexuality and erotica. The thesis shows how Internet as a forum and the non-heterosexual context Sylvia open up for a constructivist understanding of sex/gender and also leads to a questioning of "masculinity" and "femininity".

Syftet med detta utvecklingsarbete var att studera elevers uppfattning om ekologiska processer och hur väl utomhuspedagogik kan bidra till ökad förståelse för dessa processer. Med de regionala och globala miljöproblem som råder är kunskapen om ekologiska processer viktiga för att skapa ett hållbart samhälle för framtiden, allt i enighet med internationella överenskommelser som Agenda 21 och de styrdokument som reglerar grundskolan. Undersökningen gjordes, vid två olika tillfällen, med elever i år 5. Vid den första undersökningen skedde undervisningen utomhus medan i den senare inomhus. Intervjuer användes som mätmetod och resultaten jämfördes därefter.

This essay is about the massive Iranian aid to Hezbollah and the Saudi Arabian, likewise, towards the Taliban. The main view is that the two countries aid respective aid to Hezbollah and the Taliban is/were not a gesture of goodwill but rather an economic method of getting influence and controlling the receiver. This view that is based on a theory called; economic statecraft. The economic statecraft theory is used in this paper to investigate why Iran?s influence towards Hezbollah has been successful while the Saudis ambitions with the Taliban have failed.

The aim with this study was to examine professional peoples' view on the reason why females, under the age of 18 years old, self-harm and the professionals view on their treatment. The study is qualitative and based on eight interviews with professional personnel who work with young females with self-harm behavior in the region of Skåne. To be able to analyze our qualitative interviews we used two theories; the attachment theory and trauma theory. The results of this study show that there are many different functions with the self-harm behavior and that the cause of the behavior can be different among the females. Most of the young females seem to self-harm to reduce anxiety but some also do it to punish themselves, to feel alive or to belong to a group of friends.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate and analyze how widely and intensive genderequality issues are considered within Swedish companies. Qualitative interviews werearranged with personnel managers within each company, and complemented with aquestionnaire amongst the employees. The collected information was analysed on the basis ofgender theory, organization and change theory, theory of equal opportunities and historicalstatistics. The outcome of the analysis indicates that companies find gender equality of highinterest, and important to address within the daily work. However the analysis also shows thateven though the companies find gender equality important it is only adopted within few areas,and not across all departments.