The so called democratic deficit and the lack of legitimacy have been at the core of the EU-debate in the last decades. Low turnouts in the elections for the European parliament and disapproval in the ratification processes of the latest changes of the treaties are examples of the citizens lack of confidence for the EU and continuous integration. In Nice 2000 the heads of the member states governments agreed to try to improve the democratic legitimacy in the EU and initiated a public debate aiming at proposals for changes in the decision making processes in the EU. In July 2001 the commission published a white paper with their view. A fundamental presumption in discourse theory is that language and language usage not just is a way to deliver information about ideas and behaviours.

Since the Maastricht Treaty the European Parliament has gained competence in the decision-making process and the Parliament is today one of two decision-making institution, next to the Ministers of Council. In this study the main focus has been to shed light over the negotiation culture within the European Parliament, which up till now has been a neglected research area. This is of great significance because the internal negotiations in the European Parliament decide the external negotiation position with the other institutions.After face-to-face interviews with MEP:s and assistants I have been able to identify certain characteristics to create an understanding of the negotiation culture in Europe's elected Parliament. The negotiations are oriented towards a problems-solving approach and the prevailing apprehension is consensus-based negotiations instead of the existence of political blocks. The committees are stronger than the European party groups, which further encourage negotiation.

At the Division of Electricity at Uppsala University there is an experimental rig forhydroelectric generators. The experimental rig?s vital part is a 12-pole synchronousmachine, whose electrical characterizing parameters (resistances, inductances andtime constants) are unknown. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the machine inits current state by perform a Standstill Frequency Response (SSFR) test. From theanalysis of the measurement data, which is a part of the test, a set of basic parametershave been received.

In contemporary global environmental governance stakeholding, as a means for defining legitimate participants in democratic decision-making, has become of great importance. In this essay I deploy the concept of ?the stakeholder perspective? to denote arguments that all stakeholders ? defined as carriers of particular interests ? should be able to participate in political decision-making affecting their interests. The purpose of the essay is to analyze the stakeholder perspective's potential to change environmental politics. Departing from the philosophy of Heidegger, I develop a theoretical approach that separate the concept of the political from that of politics.

The purpose of this study is to examine the change in consumer behaviour regarding the intention towards buying fruit when the layout of the fruit section has been altered. We want to increase the probability of making impulse purchases by altering the layout. In our study we have combined structured quantitative observations with structured quantitative as well as qualitative interviews, with secondary data in the form of sales data from two selected ICA-stores. We chose to use this triangulated approach in order to cross-examine our findings and overcome the limitations of one method by the use of another. Further, the Latin square design was used for the observations as a means to acknowledge the calendar effect during the experiment.

The overall aim of this study was to examine if there were any difference between two different upper secondary schools with regard to the schools' work with the basic values. Our supposition was that if there were differences between the schools basic values work then it could be observed that the school that works more with the basic values has also more students expressed as a percentage who leave the school with final grades within four years. We have chosen to work with the qualitative method and made group interviews as well as individual interviews with six persons. We came to the conclusion that one of the schools worked with the basic values continuously while the other school had the intention to do it but according to our interpretation the school didn't do it. It also appeared that one of the schools had more students who finished school with final grades. The result that we have got showed that there is a difference between these two schools in the basic values work and that the school that worked with this continuously has also bigger amount of students with final grades. During work on this study we discovered other issues that we hope someone else can answer in the future..

Floor signs in stores have become a more common phenomenon during past years. The problem is that the knowledge about these signs is limited and the actual effects are unknown. This lack of knowledge can have a negative impact on store performance and marketing efforts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of floor signs on consumer attitude and behaviour. The study was conducted in two grocery stores, where the movement pattern of 39 501 customers was recorded over a four week period.

Domestic science is an interdisciplinary subject. Furthermore domestic science is a combination of theory and practice. The basic competence, a recommendation from ?The Swedish School Institution? (Skolverket), is to enter the secondary school with minimum grade G, (godkänd) in the basic themes: Swedish, English and Mathematic. Today there are many pupils finishing their secondary school without grade in one or more basic themes; Swedish, English and Mathematic.

The main purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate to what extent municipal politicians govern a selected public library. This means to clarify who determines the direction of the library and its services and in what way. It also involves examining the relationship between library staff and local politicians in the decision-making process. Which decisions are made by the politicians and which are left to the employees? The study is based on an investigation of a public library in a municipality over a period of ten years the 1990s.

In agricultural educations you learn to use different economic planning tools, as basis for decision. The purpose and goal of this work has been to find out if economic planning tools are used by the farmers in Sweden. We choose to do an investigation through personal interviews, and used an inquiry to get as equivalent answers as possible from the farmers. This work contains a literature study with relevant facts about the questions that is brought up in the inquiry. This study of literature explains shortly some different calculation methods and bases for decision. It also contains useable information that is important to know before an investment. The questions that are asked to the farmers have focused on the use of calculation methods and economical planning tools.

From my own experience as a school counselor I have learned that the decision making processes in terms of supporting and helping the students is extremely hard and very individual. In different situations, a different approach between individuals is present. I thought about which factors effects the school counselor?s way of handling problematic situations. I soon realized that the individual has a great effect on the work itself.

People are given better opportunities to participate in polity today. Democratic equality entails that all individuals are equal and therefore they should be included in the process of making the decisions. How can participation be defined and does it mean that having the possibility to participate means that people can influence the process of making the decisions in polity process?This paper focuses on participation and influence in polity and examine the relationship between having the possibility to participate and having the possibility to actually influence polity process on more local level. Therefore I have been examining the citizens? participation and influence in Helsingborg which is my case study.

This paper describes the development of a simulation model for the ambulance flow in the Västra Götalands-region of Sweden, and an analysis tool for the output of the simulation model. The aim of the simulation model was to be able to evaluate the outcome from changes in the ambulance operations, such as a reorganization of ambulances or an increase in intensity of the ambulance calls. This evaluation is meant to serve as decision support for the strategic planning of the ambulance operations. The analysis tool was developed to visualize the abundant geographical data produced by the simulation model in a meaningful way. The simulation model was validated against historical data which showed that the dispatch time for the highest prioritized ambulance calls corresponds well with historical data.

Title: Globalization ? Meeting a new market Author: Anna Nubäck Supervisor: Anders Nilsson Institution: School of Management, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola Course: Master in business administration, 15 credits (FED006) Purpose: The purpose of this essay is partly to create an understanding of the decision to establish a branch in Japan and especially to look at if and how the Swedish company in this study has adjusted its corporate culture to suit the Japanese market. Method: Data is collected thru a number of semi constructed interviews. A first telephone interview was followed by an interview made face to face that was also followed up by interviews performed over telephone. E-mails have been used to clear and correct collected data.

The purpose of this study was to describe the level of knowledge that nurse students in term 6 have about Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and basic hygiene routines. The data collection was carried out by questionnaires. The questionnaire contained questions about knowledge regarding MRSA and basic hygiene routines. The questionnaires were handed out at an obligatory tuition occasion and all of the nurse students who were present (n=57) were asked to take part. The sample consisted of 45 women and 12 men.