AbstractC-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008Supervisor: Susan Marton?Good contracting? ? A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children?Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ?shopping basket? from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting.

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

AbstractC-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008Supervisor: Susan Marton?Good contracting? ? A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children?Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ?shopping basket? from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting.

Pattern design is a territory which has been widely explored by many during a long period of time. With this project I hope to shine a new light on wallpaper design, the area on which I?ve applied my patterns to.The inspiration for this wallpaper collection originated in a past project in which I experimented with weaving strips of paper together in different ways. During this time I found myself curious to investigate how this kind of weaving could be applied to textiles, wallpapers, etc.My main focus in this project has been about creating interesting patterns in which unexpected motifs are woven together. I?ve also touched on the subject of creating a kind of conceptual wallpaper constructed by weaving strips of wallpaper together.I based my patterns on a series of drawings that I created during the course leading up to this project.

Computational thinking was brought to the forefront in 2006 by Jeannette Wing. Computational thinking is a problem solving method that uses computer science techniques.The thesis is analyzing computational thinking and how it could be applied to graph theory. Characteristics and main fields from computational thinking is being analysed. This analysis is applied to graph theory to see the potential in developing a proposal for how an exercise can look for an introductory course in discrete data types. Only basic knowledge of graphs is required to perform the exercise.

The Capturetheory wants to give an alternative explanation for the need of regulation. From this point if view the government does not have enough information to make an optimal regulation. There is a possibility for different interest groups to take advantage of the political arena by rent- seeking behaviour. An industry may be willing to be regulated to protect itself from competition. The objective of this paper is to account for the pros and cons of the theory of regulatory capture and also if it can be applied to the Swedish market of pharmaceuticals.

The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of individualism also how individualism is applied in a teacher?s classroom. Based on the curriculum, teaching is tailored to each and every student?s expectations and needs.  My research has been qualitative and includes four interviews with practicing teachers in two multi-cultural schools in the city of Stockholm. I have investigated how these four teachers perceive individualism, also how they individualize when teaching to meet all students' expectations and needs according to them.

Electronic article surveillance (EAS) is widely used in shops and libraries together with an RF-tag attached to the goods or books in order to prevent shoplifting. By implementing the addition of a moisture sensor to the RF-tag, other functions become possible, including the ability to use as an alarm with regards to frozen goods, which have been shipped but which have melted and have, subsequently, refrozen. In- relation to care for the elderly, one time-consuming step involves checking whether there is the necessity for a change of diaper and this can, instead, be based on an RF-tag with an EAS-system alarm. A preliminary investigation was made using the moisture sensors, which involved how the resistance changes when liquid and/or heat is applied. A simulation of the LCCR circuit (RF-tag with the sensor) was conducted in order to determine how the resonance frequency changes for different resistances levels.

The short term effect of phosphorus in sewage sludge was investigated to establish howmuch of this a farmer can grant him- or herself, if using sewage sludge as a phosphorusfertilizer. Possible differences in plant availability between sludge phosphorus precipitatedby iron, aluminum or calcium integrations were studied in a sandy soil at two pH levels.The sludges were analyzed using pot and incubation trials. As the intention was to investigategrowth limitation due to phosphorus deficiency, a soil with low phosphorus supplywas chosen as well as a low phosphorus application rate. Sludge corresponding to 12kg phosphorus per hectare was applied. Treatments fertilized by sludge were compared totreatments where 0, 6 and 12 kg phosphorus per hectare from mineral fertilizer was applied.Every treatment was replicated six times.

Computational thinking was brought to the forefront in 2006 by Jeannette Wing. Computational thinking is a problem solving method that uses computer science techniques.The thesis is analyzing computational thinking and how it could be applied to graph theory. Characteristics and main fields from computational thinking is being analysed. This analysis is applied to graph theory to see the potential in developing a proposal for how an exercise can look for an introductory course in discrete data types. Only basic knowledge of graphs is required to perform the exercise.

Nature conservation agreement (NCA) is a way to voluntarily protect and manage nature for limited time-periods. The agreement is settled between the government and a landowner. All public authorities can represent the government but it is only the Swedish Forest Administration who does that regularly (because it is the only authority with economic resources for that purpose). Therefore, NCAs are almost only used to protect forested nature. The government agencies have experienced NCAs for about ten years and it is now time to examine how they are applied in the forests. This study is based on a computerized questionnaire to the persons responsible for the LEKO-projekt.

This master thesis was performed at IdaInfront AB. The aim of the thesis was toinvestigate how the design principles ofthe user interface in Windows 8 can beapplied to a case management system. Theuser interface in Windows 8 is based ona design language called Metro and it isprimarily designed for touch screens.Ida Infront AB wanted to know whatpossibilities and limitations the Metrointerface offers.The study has resulted in a prototypeapplication that is developed in Windows8. The prototype shows how the Metrointerface can be applied on a casemanagement system. Some limitations inthe usability have been identified inthe Metro interface when applied to acase management system.

The purpose of this essay is to analyse how and why culture and tradition is created and maintained within a minor student society at a Swedish university by looking at its history. The West Coast Nation student society provided the material which was subsequently analysed and three sociological perspectives were applied in order to give the study a theoretical base. In order to investigate the purpose of the society, durkheimian theories on functionalism were applied. Moreover, Bourdieu?s thoughts on social fields were used as well as Elias? theories on the established and the outsiders.

Purpose: The purpose with this empirical study is to investigate how many companies have chosen to apply the K2 framework and see why the remaining companies have chosen not to.Methodology: A choice of a quantitative approach has been applied to collect information and create a foundation for the problem. Furthermore a qualitative approach has been selected to cover the remains.Theoretical perspective: This section contains a presentation of the agency theory, the institutional theory, the k-project and a comparison of K2 and the existing regulation.Results: Three out of 143 companies applies BFNAR 2008:1. 13 out of 143 companies use self-generated intangible fixed assets. Out of 29 contacted companies only three know about K2. The 29 companies are from various lines of business within an area.Conclusion: The conclusion of our research is that the majority of the companies did not reject to use the K2 regulations.

Given a considerable increase in knowledge-based companies, the interest for measuring and valuing intangible assets, particularly human capital, has increased accordingly. Human capital has climbed the management research agenda as human assets make substantial contribution to the value creation in knowledge-based companies. Neither internal nor external financial statements reflect the value of an organization?s human assets. Against this backdrop, we find it interesting to explore how counting and controlling for human capital is devised.