In this thesis, the impact of collective ratings on customers? perception of a product is examined. The empirical data comes from an experimentally designed survey where the effect of collective ratings is measured in the setting of a traditional advertisement for a feature film. In contrast to what previous research would suggest be to the expected outcome, the authors of this paper concludes that in comparison with alternative designs of advertisements, there are no measurable advantages of including collective ratings in advertisements from the marketers point of view. We find two explanations to the result: (1) people tend to self-report that they are more influenced by collective ratings than they actually are, and (2) the advertisement which lacked a rating could be as attractive due to cultural interpretations of white spaces..

The thesis deals with three document retrieval models based on logic: the Boolean model,the fuzzy model and the Van Rijsbergen model.In Chapter 1, the author presents the purpose of the thesis. This is to give the logical foundationof the models, to describe them and to examine them critically. In Chapter 2, some importantnotions in document retrieval are presented. Chapter 3 is devoted to the Boolean model, Chapter4 to the fuzzy model and Chapter 5 to the Van Rijsbergen model.These three chapters are organized in the same way. First, the logical foundation of the modelis given.

Background: A group severely affected by health issues, the experiences of homeless alcohol and drug abusers in the coverage of their medical care needs is not satisfactory. Aim: The aim of the study is to explore which factors experienced by homeless alcohol and drug abusers in Uppsala in regards to their living situation affected their health, their perception of access to healthcare, the character of treatment received and coping strategies used outside of the healthcare system. Method: Nine people who had experienced both homelessness and substance abuse problem were recruited for the study during their visit to Stadsmissionens facilities for the homeless. Data was collected through qualitative, semi-structured interviews including two women and seven men. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Giorgi modified by Malterud.Results: Among homeless substance abusers interviewed experiences of unwelcoming and prejudiced healthcare were described.

A large part of Sweden?s green, urban landscape is covered by lawns. Approximately 80 000 ha of maintained grass lawns are part of public courtyards, schoolyards, parks, golf courses, sport fields and traffic environments. Beyond this figure, the lawn is also an essential element in most private villa-gardens. Lawns have become a universal phenomenon through the dispersion of landscape aesthetics from the Western world.

VAV (Variable Air Volume) system has been studied in a newly constructed office-building. The goal for the study has been to evaluate how the ventilations system work in practice, if adjustments can be made to achieve an more energy efficient system and to evaluate if other alternative ventilation systems is to be preferred in the further.The degree project has been executed at Helenius Engineering Firm who is working with the environment, media systems, HVAC and energy in buildings. The building that has been studied is owned and operated by Akademiska hus.Literature studies, visits at site, inventory, review of system documentation, energy analyses, interviews, key figures, LCC, sand energy- and indoor climate simulations has been made to study the building. Where appropriate some tools from Six Sigma have also been used.How to achieve an energy efficient system and a pleasant indoor climate is studied with human health and well-being as base for the indoor climate requirements. Technical support systems such as ventilation systems have to be designed so that an acceptable indoor climate can be achieved.

The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in our homes. It is a place for social engagements, meetings between people and activity. How the kitchen looks today is a concept sprung from the Swedish kitchen standard of 1952. Eventhou this standard no longer exists it is a model of how kitchens are designed today. The kitchens most often sold today come from one of four major kitchen manufacturers in Sweden.My thesis investiges an alternative kitchen concept.

Bioenergy from the forest has been heavily debated in Sweden for several decades due to the interest of society to decrease dependence upon fossil fuels and limit the effects of climate change. The actual use of bioenergy from the forest has shifted over the years but increased during the last decades. Private actors within forest and nature conservation sectors play an important role for the development of bioenergy from the forest as well as for the debate and the implementation of political goals. Forestry in Sweden is characterised by ?freedom under responsibility? for private actors and the perspective of governance is valuable for studying actors and discourses.

In the last decades, high speed cutting has become an attractive technology in the wood industry. The possibility of reducing global costs in addiction with an increase in productivity, were the main reasons for the enlargement of the use of this technology. As usual, these advantages are accompanied by disadvantages that should be carefully analyzed. If on the one hand cutting forces are reduced with increasing cutting speeds, on the other hand, the centrifugal forces affecting the tool are higher. Exposed to such high loads, there is a considerable risk of tool failure that embeds hazards for both machine and workers.

The aim of this paper is to describe how to measure welfare effect of the deregulation and increased competition of the public transport by railway in Sweden. The paper also includes a numerical example of how to measure the welfare effect. In our study we use public data from SJ regaring quantity and ticket prices for the period 1996 - 2005. We have used equivalent variation, EV, as the method to measure the welfare effect. We demonstrate how to derive the equation to calculate EV by starting with a Marschallian demand function.

Mankind faces a serious threat. Its activities, for example the burning of fossil fuels, have led to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect - something that has given rise to a global warming. The climate is becoming warmer, a change that has important effects on the nature as well as for humans and their society. Sea level rising, extreme temperatures are becoming more common, glaciers and other ice caps melt and storms becomes more intense when they appear. The main cause is the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere - carbon dioxide in particular.

Urbanisation has increased the distance between the urban and the rural. Urban agriculture can be a solution to overcome that distance. The characteristic of urban agriculture is the intensive production in intra urban and peri-urban areas. Until 1950s food production in cities was an important part of the urban economy and the urban food supply. Since the 1950s the urban located production of food has almost ceased in Sweden, partly as a result of cheap food imports.

This essay examines the Swedish debate on Internet hate with focus on theories concerning Internet as a public sphere, sociocultural turbulence and subaltern counterpublics. Examining material fromnewspapers, alternative news media and discussion forums, with an hermeneutical influenced method, the task is to understand the Internet hate debate, and the study wishes to discover its relations to biggercontexts, such as social transformations and power dynamics. The conflict evolves between the establishment (journalists, writers, politicians et cetera) on one part, and Internet ?haters? on the other.The examined theme also shows a conflict where the two combatants show not only two opposite views on what Internet hate is, but also shows two different conceptions of the world..

Logosol is a company that produce small-scale wood processing products. To be able to expand the business Logosol have decided to increase exports, their target markets are the US, Russia, Germany and Norway. The expansion has mainly been through subsidiaries situated on the abroad markets. The subsidiaries have done poor results and that has influenced the whole company. CEO Bengt-Olov Byström made a decision to sell out the units to the people who worked in the business.

Green manuring is a way of creating an organic fertilizer by growing a crop that is mowed down. Besides the fertilizing effect this method has been shown to have a positive influ-ence on soil organic matter as well as weed flora, and green manure is an important me-thod of weed control in organic farming in parts of Sweden. However, the release of nu-trients from the green manure varies and can therefore be difficult to control. Risks for losses of nutrients are also present. Although the area of organic farmland is increasing in Sweden, the use of green manure is decreasing.This report contains a literature study which compiles research on the functions of green manure in a cropping system and also how the crop can be used if harvested, for example to produce biogas.

BakgrundArtros, som är en degenerativ ledsjukdom, är en av de vanligaste sjukdomarna i Sverige. Sjukdomen är vanligare hos äldre än hos yngre och det är fler kvinnor än män som utvecklar artros. Normalt sker en nybildning av brosk kontinuerligt i alla kroppens leder, men vid artros bryts brosket ner utan att någon nybildning sker. Artros kan förekomma i alla kroppens leder, men det är framför allt knä, höft och fingerleder som drabbas.Smärta är oftast det första symtomet på sjukdomen. Smärtan behandlas i första hand med paracetamol eller non steroid inflammatory drugs (NSAID).