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.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

In the Swedish school library discussion, the most prominent role of the school library haslong been that of cultural centre in the school, with the main goal being to encourage children'sreading. During the 90ies there were signs of a shift in focus to the role of information centre,giving active support across the whole range of the curriculum, in the independent researchingwork of the students. At the same time severe budget cuts caused great worries for the future.The interest for the school library media centres increased during this time, many differentorganizations said they wanted to fight for better school libraries. The purpose of the presentwork was to find out who they are, what they want and what their ideal school library lookslike. Fourteen organizations were studied, focus was on activities during 1995.

This essay is an attempt to study some post-modern theological positions with regard to their growing interest in the use of mystical theology and mysticism in theological research in the academic post-modern world, and to see if the 19th century theologian Albert Schweitzer couldprove a resource for this understanding of mystical theology. This position is known in the essay as ?the mystical turn.?To present the background and understanding of this post-modern view of mystical theology the essay presents three theologians, namely: Andrew Louth, Mark A. McIntosh and Sarah Coakley.These three theologians argue for the use of a contemplative and transforming mysticism as a postmodern epistemology in relation to theological research, with growing concern of the status of theology in the secular and post-modern world. Having made clear the views of these three theologians the essay then presents Albert Schweitzer's view on the mysticism of Paul.

Scholarly publishing has since the introduction of electronically distributed periodicals seen a time of change, mainly in the STM-business (Science Technology and Medicine). The roles of the three main participants in the publication process; researcher, publisher and library are developing into new directions. Researchers themselves are taking a more active part in the discussion, with the boycott list from the Public Library of Science organization as an illustrating example. Reforms are being launched partly as an economical and efficiency issue, partly as an increasing desire from researchers to maintain the control of scientific end result. This Master s thesis examines how the partly conflicting goals of the participants affect the conditions for scholarly publication in an electronic environment.

Abstract   Study: Degree project in teacher education, Advanced level, 15 hpUniversity of Skövde.Title: ?The aim is for them to manage as much as possible on their own? ? a qualitative study of preschools´ indoor environment as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children.Number of pages: 31Author: Jenny Karlsson, Marie PerssonTuto: Gunvi BrobegDate: 2009-01-28 Keywords: Independence, indoor environment, preschool, pedagouge This study aims at examining the indoor environment of three different preschools as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children. Is the design of the premises adapted to the height of the children? Can they themselves reach the material they need and is it possible for them to reach their outdoor clothes or do they constantly have to ask for help? In order to acquire a deeper understanding of the different views of the three preschools, the question is asked: what are the pedagogues thoughts of the indoor environment of their own preschool in the perspective of childrens independence and what affects their choice of furnishing, planning etc? The preschool curriculum clearly states that the children must be given the opportunity to develop their independence. We have experianced that the pedagogues feel that they are unable to plan the environment as they wish and thus, interest is also pointed towards the question: are there any limiting factors that affect the design of the indoor environment, and, that being the case, which are they? The study is based on qualitative observations and interviews because it is in its interest to discern patterns and categories rather than quantity.

Title: The impact of environment on music students' commitment to music - a study of attitudes among music students and their parents. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the importance of environmental influence on childrens' musical interests and factors inspiring children to play instruments and sing. The parents' opinions, regarding the extent of the effect of the environment on the musical interest of their child, are compared in the text, with the childrens' own opinions in this matter. I conducted the survey in two music classes in Malmö. I used a questionnaire, where all students participated and I also conducted qualitative interviews with four students and their parents.

The cocoa produced in Fiji is exported to industrialized countries for processing of the raw material. The Swedish organization Cocoa Bello is involved in a project to provide the Fijian cocoa farmers with knowledge as well as resources to enable local processing and to attain added value of the cocoa crop. The purpose of this study is to discover a field of application for the Fijian cocoa among the rural population, using an ethnographic design. We spent one week in Namau Settlement, Fiji, where we applied in-depth interviews and participant obser-vations in six families. We found a number of aspects affecting food choices, such as social, economical and cultural beliefs.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

The scope of this project is to make a comparison of costs associated with wind and nuclear power in order to decide which one of these is the most suitable in the case of an increased demand for electricity. It is also investigated if there are other factors that can influence the choice of energy source.An average cost is calculated in terms of kronor per kilowatt-hour (SEK/kWh) using cost of investment, operation & maintenance and taxes & subsidies. Total investment cost is recalculated to production cost using the annuity method at three different interest rates (6%, 9% and 12%).The comparison is made between three cases of wind power and two cases of nuclear power. For wind power there are two ocean-based (300MW and 100MW installed capacity, respectively) and one land-based (60MW) wind farm. For nuclear power there is one EPR-reactor (1600MW) and one AP1000-reactor (1100MW).

The aim of this study is to establish an understanding of how the concept educational materials can be interpreted, as well as to investigate how teachers describe their use of educational materials. The focus of this study is the subject ?Sign Language for the hearing?, at the upper secondary level. We, the authors of this essay, both have a great personal interest in this language. Swedish Sign Language is the sign language mainly used in Sweden.

Self-driving cars are soon to become a reality to the commercial market. A self-driving car does not have a human operator, which enables some interesting characteristics. The main benefits are considered to be:The number of accidents and traffic jams should be reduced.Enhanced comfort.Energy usage could be decreased while capacity could be increased.This study concerns the causes for improved energy efficiency. The reason for improved energy efficiency is mainly because of the variation in terms of acceleration, braking and distance holding are reduced. The vehicles are more intelligent and can work together as a unity.

Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase.

The aim of the thesis was to provide further understanding on how Swedish consumers use the Internet as an information source in their purchase decision process. The subject was investigated from different perspectives: gender, product type and information type. The authors used a quantitative approach, and a survey (n=120) was conducted. It was concluded that men and women are equally influenced by traditional word-of-mouth, but more men than women search for product information online and they are more likely to let their purchase decision to be influenced by it. Women tend more to trust commercial sources.

The competitive situation for businesses has experienced drastical changes as an effectof globalization and changes in consumer demands. Product related competitive advantages arerisking to quickly become presumptions for competition. The demand for increased innovationpace, along with the intense price competition, has led to buisnesses trying to find new ways todifferentiate themselves and Corporate Social Responsibility has became one way of doing so.The bad working conditions associated with the textile industry have rised a debate about thebusinesses? Corporate Social Responsibility. The future is heading towards more and morecompanies choosing to take their social responsibility, many of those experiencing this to be anadvandage in the relation with the consumers.