Small hydropower plants have been an important source for electricity for many years. During the 70?s the general thought was that nuclear was the future. Around 2000 small waterpower plants were shut down. It wasn?t profitable to invest in.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the function and development of non-player characters (NPC) in the TV/computer game Dragon Age: Origins. The NPCs are analysed in order to see if their development is affected by the player character?s (PC) background and interactions. The game?s ethics is also investigated by studying how the NPCs treat the PC and what significance they give to his background and actions.The results show that the NPCs are affected by the PC?s interactions, and furthermore, that they are round characters, which is unusual in TV/computer games.

The purpose of this research aims investigate whether front line personell are brand carriers who can affect the customers brand experience. This present study focuses on commercial fitness centers in Kalmar. Like brands, training is taking part in people?s everyday lives; fitness centers are offering the customer a wider range of group training.This thesis is based on a qualitative approach whereby eight interviews have been carried out with two members of the board and six employees of the front line. Additionally, this thesis is also based on three focus groups with four customers, representing the majority of each fitness centers.The research findings highlight that the front line employees are very important as they are seen as the brand; therefore the front line employee?s personality and behaviour will influence the customer?s view of the brand.

Since their invention in 1999, CubeSats have become a widespread standard for small picosatellite missions. CubeSats allow for quick development of satellite payloads and launch in space without the high costs of a normal satellite. Emphasis during the CubeSat design process is placed on use of commercialoff- the-shelf (COTS) components and reuse of previously-designed units.This report describes the interfacing of a scientific magnetometer, the Small Magnetometer in Low-Mass Experiment (SMILE) to such a CubeSat mission, the Space Weather using Ion spectrometers and Magnetometers (SWIM). Design of a complete platform for use in multiple such missions is presented here.Modularity is one of the key aspects followed in the course of the work. A new board containing the analog pick-up and compensation circuitry for SMILE has been designed to fit inside a CubeSat frame.

The purpose of this study is to investigate in what extension students experience that computer and videogames affect them. I have chosen to focus on the physical, mental and social affect that this activity might bring them. I have also examined how much time the students spends in front of the computer or the videogame and in which social context they play.The method I have chosen to use is a quantitative opinion poll which I used in three classes of the later junior high and I have also conducted five qualitative interviews.The conclusions I have drawn from this investigation are that computer and videogames affects teenagers both physically and mentally. Physically the affects of playing videogames mostly can be derived to the physical inactivity they expose themselves to. The students themselves did not experienced any positive physical affects from their playing.Amongst the mental affects that stood out the most I recognized the social training that online gaming provided and also the intellectual stimulation that certain games offered the player.

With the digital revolution within video games, the need for Digital Rights Management (DRM) has increased significantly, alongside with the increasing problem of copyright pirates. To counter pirates, DRM was created to prevent illegal copying of software, this to ensure that the Distributors received an income for their work. DRM has, since the start of its use, been getting, a lot of bad criticism from the users of the software protected by DRM. The main function of this paper is to describe the creation and development of DRM by analysis of the vision of different groups on this phenomenon. The main questions are as follows, is it possible to define the very reason for why DRM was created and if so, can its development through time be defined too? What differences in opinions are there when it comes to DRM, counting the two major groups of creators, sellers, distributors (referred to as distributors) versus individual users (referred to as consumers)? In what way will the research results suggest that the future DRM will develop?The development has gone from solving puzzles in a handbook to start the game each time the user wants to play, to serial numbers that is needed during the installation of the game.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker hur digitala spel kan skapas med någon annans synsätt. Vi ville se vad som hände om vi försökte göra spel på ett posthumanistiskt sätt och om detta hade förändrat något. Det har uppkommit speciella möjligheter och konsekvenser under processen, det har även dykt upp frågor. En av dessa frågor är hur skapandet av varelser inom digitala spel kan utföras. Likväl har det under projektet skett diskussioner och tester runt hur ett verktyg för detta ändamål skulle kunna fungera.

On board ships different type of maintenance activities take place. Some of those require working with vibrating handheld tools. Traditionally there is a high awareness of the risks with different type of duties such as protecting the skin from oil or other chemicals, the eyes from splashes and hearing from high noise levels. The experience we have from our time as on-board cadets are that there is less information about vibration hazards available compared to the information concerning other hazards on board.There are threshold values that workers, by law, are not allowed to exceed when working with handheld vibrating tools. The purpose of this study is to investigate how common the use of this type of equipment that can cause damage by vibrations, to the hands and arm amongst the deck crew, and if the crew informed about the risks involved.

Denna uppsats har som syfte att, genom kvalitativa intervjuer, belysa fem kvinnors intresse för spel (dator- och tv-spel) och hur dessa kvinnor i sin tur talar om spel som en del av sin identitet. Frågorna som ställs till empirin handlar om vilka erfarenheter informanterna har av spel som intresse och vilka slutsatser om deras spelande man kan dra av detta. Vidare får vi en inblick i hur det normala ser ut inom spelvärlden, utifrån informanternas berättelser. Sist men inte minst så ställs frågan vad föreställningarna om det normala inom spelvärlden får för konsekvenser för informanternas identitet, och därmed vad detta leder till gällande de möjligheter och begränsningar som dessa kvinnor ställs inför, i relation till sitt intresse och den värld som omger det. Uppsatsen visar på att det inte bara finns en norm för hur en kvinna ska vara som Gamer utan det finns också en normativ femininitet som man bör förhålla sig till.

Södertörn University was built in the suburb of Stockholm to bring hope for students that aren?t used to study. Ever since the university was built there has been a debate on internet message boards such as Flashback and a discourse has developed in the recent five years. The public discourse has had a negative influence on how the university is perceived by the public. The purpose of this study is to analyze how this discourse has developed the image of the university and how it has evolved.

Background: The board of directors is a key player in corporate governance. Their role is to ensure that the corporations are run with the interest of the shareholders as the main focus. In the beginning of the 21st century, a survey was made about the confidence of the Swedish business community and in which criticism was directed to the board of directors. The boards were deemed inadequate in their function and were often solely composed by members with similar experiences and competence, therefore lacking in diversity. In order to improve the competence and work of the board of directors, the Swedish code of corporate governance was introduced and its recommendations comprehend the boards? size and composition.

The purpose of my study is to explore which possibilities there are for movement activities and how to use those possibilities. From this study, I will help the pedagogues recognize how to work more or different with movement activities.I have used participant observations and interviews as methods for my study. I did this at one preschool, because it is a development-study. The observations lasted for two weeks and the interviews were made with the majority of the pedagogues at the preschool.  The results of my study showed that the preschool teachers think that movement activities are an important part of children?s lives.

With the introduction of the Swedish Code for Corporate Governance in December 2004, most companies listed on the major Swedish stock exchanges were required to have a nomination committee responsible for, among other things, evaluating the incumbent board and nominating new candidates. This master thesis aims at analyzing the effects of these nomination committees on institutional investors in their corporate governance, through a qualitative study of 13 interviews. We have found that institutional investors have become more active through their participation in nomination committees and that they have gained more influence over the companies in which they own shares. We believe that in reality nomination committees have more influence over the selection of the board than was intended when the Swedish Code was written..

Animal welfare in Sweden has gone through major changes during the later years. In 2004, Swedish Animal Welfare Agency took over the central responsibility for the animal welfare from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, and in 2007 the board again became the central authority for animal welfare in Sweden.Even the practical supervision has changed, from the 1 of January 2009 the supervision is to be performed by the county administrative boards, instead of by the individual municipalities. Since 2006 every horse in the European Union has to have an identification card, in Sweden called a ?horse passport? which describes the color and markings of the horse as well as any veterinary treatments.The ELOF-project, a collaborative project between the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the county administrative boards, intends to make the animal welfare supervision effective, standardised, fair and risk-based. Because of the takeover of the supervision and of the ELOF-project the Örebro County Administrative Board has began to make an inventory of the number of horses and horsefarms in the county. Another Ethology and Animal Welfare-student and I did, in collaboration with the county administrative board created a checklist that in connection with the inventory will lead to a risk-based animal welfare supervision.

?Intensive family therapy?Journal studyAbstractThe Family board in Falun gives since a couple of years priority to intense familytheraphy work with families in need of help/support. Intensive family therapy (IFT) was developed during the 1970s with the purpose of helping families. The theoretical mainlines upon which the IFT ? model is based is the, structural-, strategic- and systemic perspective.