Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to give a contribution to the studies of what strategies those are of importance for challengers in consumer technological markets aiming for the market leader position. To be able to investigate this phenomenon we have chosen to study Microsoft?s second position in the video game console industry. In addition, we want to illuminate Microsoft?s competitive advantages, how Microsoft can take advantage from Sony?s setbacks and what strategies those are of importance for Microsoft in the battle of becoming the market leader.

The North-American sociologist Michael Lipsky has characterized social workers as street-level bureaucrats with a substantial discretion in the relationship between the welfare state and its citizens. Within Lipsky´s theoretical framework social workers appear as a powerful group that socializes the citizens to uphold certain expectations towards the welfare state and its (re)distributional programs. From this point of view, it is important to learn more about social workers and the attitudes they express towards the welfare state. The aim of this study is to analyze how the welfare-political attitudes of future social workers are affected by their social background (e.g. class background and ancestral homeland).

Alternative splicing is a process that partly rejects the common definition of a gene ? that one gene codes for one specific protein. By variable combination of coding regions (exons) and exclusion of non-coding regions (introns), formation of several different mRNA-transcripts, and consequently several different proteins, can derive from the same gene. Alternative splicing is an important condition for the development of complex life forms, but it is also a highly sensitive process and inaccurate splicing is the cause of approximately 15 % of mutations that cause genetic diseases. This article presents four genes, BRCA1, BRCA2, ER? and ER?, and inaccurate splicing of these genes increases the risk of developing cancer, particularly breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

This paper deals with a taphonomic study of contexts with osteological material of dog (C. familiaris L.) from the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Sweden and Zealand, Denmark. The general aim is to develop and test a method to try to understand the activity behind and define specific archaeological structures. My questions also regards to wether a taphonomic analysis of the material could be used to identify treatments as wrapping and contraction of the dogs, but also dismembering and other preparations of the body. The study focuses on the relation between the space of decomposition, disarti-culation of the joints, evidence of wall effect, cutmarks, weathering and signs of postdepositional arrangements.The analysis is based on contexts from the materials Hornborgasjön, Vedbæk, Skateholm I and II, Sjöholmen, Ertebølle, Bökeberg, Bredasten, Löddesborg, Bergsvägen and Röekillorna, dating from early Maglemose culture to Neolithic Battle axe culture.The analysis shows that a closer study of taphonomic processes can be used to identify different structures as graves, offerings, religious and non religious contexts or parts of animals, probably put into the ground as waste.

This essay focuses on Finnish immigrants living in Sweden and their experiences of educationof literature in Swedish upper secondary school. It concerns the fact of how education ofliterature can be used to strengthen students? formation of cultural identity. The essay tries toidentify obstacles as well as possibilities in the teaching of literature with a view to deepenand enrich this process. The method consists of a phenomenological approach includinginterviews with a group of Finnish immigrants living in Sweden.

Background: The last few years a globalization of the capital market has occurred. This have led to that it is more important for the companies that their financial information can be compared with other companies in order to compete on same grounds. In order to fa-cilitate for the companies within EU to compete with other companies and in order to strive for an internal market EU decided that IFRS should be used by all listed companies within the union.Problem: In 2006 the first financial reports according to IFRS will be published, and then it will be interesting to investigate how the companies have chosen to communicate the transition to its stakeholders. According to IFRS some information is compulsive but the companies have chosen to disclose voluntary information to a different degree.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe to what extent the Swedish listed com-panies have reported the transition to IFRS in their consolidated financial statements.Method: In this essay a quantitative method have been chosen in order to find general re-lations. The data collection is done with help of an evaluation model that have been devel-oped for this study.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to present guidelines for making a digital repository. To attain this, useful factors for creating an archive were examined. Also different organisations? strategies were analysed.

Mammary gland neoplasia is one of the most common diseases in the bitch and the most common neoplastic disease. More than 13 % of the female dog population in Sweden suffers from mammary tumors during their lifetime. The disease can affect bitches in all ages but most often middle aged and older dogs. Some breeds such as Poodle and English Setter are predisposed for the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate if it is possible to improve the post surgical healing process by using a pressure pad.

Det framgår av en mängd opinionsundersökningar att vi svenskar ser oss som miljömedvetna. Ett sätt att värna om miljön är att källsortera. I kvarteret Topasen 1&2 i Norrköping har det införts källsortering i miljörum på gården men möjligheten att använda sopnedkasten finns kvar. I denna uppsats undersöks med hjälp av intervjuer och en enkät vad som styr de boendes val av sopsystem samt hur hyresgästerna påverkas av att kunna välja. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka om de boende i området gör så mycket för miljön som de tycker att de borde göra samt om deras beteende stämmer överens med vad de säger att de gör.

Kravet på tillgängliga, rörliga och interoperabla styrkor för uppgifter till oroshärdar runt om ivärlden har ökat. Sverige är medlem av EU och bidrar med styrkor till EU och NATO:sstyrkeregister. De svenska luftstridskrafterna står i dag i beredskap för ett antal uppgifter ochden uppgift som bedöms vara mest utmanande är Nordic Battle Group (NBG).Luftstridskrafterna har delar i NBG och delar som är direkt understödjande så kallade enablar.NBG är dimensionerad för att kunna vara autonom och första styrka på plats i ettoperationsområde. Detta innebär för de svenska luftstridskrafterna att upprättandet avluftkontroll, understödjande av mark och understödjande av sjöstyrkor ligger på Sverige och desvenska luftstridskrafterna. Detta kräver expeditionär förmåga.Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning de svenska luftstridskrafternastransformering går mot en expeditionär förmåga.Den övergripande frågeställningen är till vilken grad är de svenska luftstridskrafternaexpeditionära? För att kunna analysera de svenska luftstridskrafterna expeditionära förmågadefinierar jag inledningsvis expeditionärt.

This thesis deals with the supranational organization of European trade unions. The European trade union movement is, via its umbrella organization the ETUC, an institutionalized social partner within the European Union. The ETUC is a very diverse organization with great potential of conflicting interest among its members. This thesis therefore seeks to explore the dynamics and interest heterogeneity of the ETUC. Drawing on previous research and literature it formulates a number of hypothesises to test what variables that influence the member organizations policy preferences (i.e.

Saab Training Systems (STS) in Huskvarna is manufacturing material for educationalpurposes to armies worldwide. They are now implementing parts of the Lean productionconcept in their organisation.One part of the work with Lean production is to eliminate waste. To be able to identify waste,value stream mapping is a good tool and also what we used in our thesis. To gain a betterefficiency in the production of Personnel Detector Device (PDD) flow was one of our goals.The PDD is a harness used during battle training which registers if the user is being hit by itsenemy.Our work with the thesis started up with a short education in Lean production and in valuestream mapping (VSM). The work proceeded with a VSM of the production flow of the PDD,interviews were made and studies of literature were done to gain greater knowledge of thesubject and solve the task.The VSM resulted in five areas which were followed up out of those six we identified.

Chlorinated solvents are common contaminants in soil and water. Under anaerobic conditions microbes are capable of transforming chlorinated solvents into ethylene which would result in a remediation of the contaminated area. In order to use natural attenuation as a remediation method evidence of continuous degradation is required. Furthermore, the degradation must occur at a sufficient rate and continuous monitoring of the site is needed until the demanded levels are achieved. A field study was performed on the basis of data from a dry-cleaning facility contaminated mainly by perchloroethylene.

The aim of this essay is to analyze how students are constituted as subjects in local curricula. The theoretical perspective is grounded in Michel Foucault?s notion of governmentality and power/knowledge and his critique of a sovereign subject. From this theoretical perspective I use Foucault?s concept of formation of objects and Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe?s idea of subject positioning as tools for a discourse analysis.

This thesis work is the last part of the Master of Science education inmechanical engineering at KTH, Stockholm.The aim of this project was the development of a Multi-zone modelfor NOxformation in Diesel engines. Because of the stringent emissionlegislations, great effort is made to decrease the fuel consumption and theharmful emissions of internal combustion engines. Computer simulationsplay a decisive role in this context because they substitute the expensiveand time-consuming laboratory tests.The model is based on a multi-zone approach and uses the wellknownExtended Zeldovich Mechanism which gives a relation to calculatethe NO formation rate using the concentration of different gas speciesinvolved in the process.All the most important phenomena involved in the Diesel combustionhave been modelled. A special attention is then paid to the equilibriumconcentration calculation; this is a significant part of the model whichstrongly influences the following steps.A Simulink model has also been developed. This second version isbased on the previous model and it is made especially to allow theconnection with other external softwares, GT-power in this case.