In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.

Objective: The aim of this work is to find out how a number of educators work when giving children support and opportunities for language development.Questions:What have preschool for policy to monitor/assess the children?s language development?What experiences do teachers have of children who need support in language development?How do educator?s regard support from specialised educator?s? Do these efforts support the children to enhance language development?Methods: Qualitative methodology, Interviews with six teachers and two specialised educators from three kindergartens in the municipality.Summary of conclusions: The municipality in which the survey was conducted has a document that provides guide lines on how to work with children?s language development in school and preschool. Pedagogical documentation is a tool that teachers use in nursery school which educators and parents can follow, which shows children?s learning processes and learn strategies. Research shows that through play, music, creative activities, photos, etc.

The aim of this report is to analyse the use of the capacity at the CNC (computer numerical control) cutters and show how the level of set up time for these cutters at Stålöv AB. This assignment is concrete whereas there are no subjective questions to this matter and there are only cold figures presented.Production economy is getting more important as the competition hardens and there are several different ways to increase productivity and efficiency in a company. In order to increase productivity and efficiency work studies are used to, through an analysis, find developments in methods that result in improved work methods and to establish the time that are used. Increased production of different parts and customer driven production in combination with increased demands on rationalisation of capital have led to an enlarged interest for shorter set up times in the production.To point out the use of capacity and the set up time of the cutters at Stålöv AB we used frequency studies. Frequency studies are work measure methods based on random observations on predetermined events to calculate the relative occurrence of these events.

Introduction: Pregnancy, obesity, aging and certain diseases are examples of conditions thataffect the body, its constitution and composition. Simpler methods to estimate bodycomposition are needed to complement more advanced traditional methods to better identifythe health status without sacrificing accuracy and precision.Objective: To validate the results of body composition from bioelectrical impedancespectroscopy (BIS) against results from the study reference method, dual energy X-rayabsorption (DXA), in overweight and obese lactating women after childbirth.Method: The design of the LEVA-study (Lifestyle for Effective Weight loss during lactation)consisted both intervention and longitudinal follow-up, which gave the opportunity tovalidate the absolute values (accuracy) and the ability to detect changes (precision). Themean difference between methods was tested statistically by paired t-test. Bland-Altman plotsused to examine the degree of agreement between BIS and DXA, but also distribution andany systematic differences. Association between methods was measured by using Pearson´scorrelation coefficient.Results: Between BIS and DXA, absolute measurements of the variables fat-free mass (FFM)and fat mass (FM) showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001).

Being able to reflect, evaluate and justify your views is an important part of adult life. Moral education can be a path to develop this knowl-edge; however, it is possible that the moral education gets more obscure when it is not a separate subject. The purpose with this essay is to examine the need of moral education and the presence and the framing of moral education of seven teachers in religion. The purpose is also to analyse where and how the moral education should be included in the curriculum. The survey was conducted through qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic approach.

This paper investigates decision-making under uncertainty and complexity. The focus point of the study was to investigate how organizations in Stockholm has come to a decisions on how to manage the trial implementation of a congestion tax in terms of their company cars. The study was conducted as a survey with complementary interviews with the decision makers in change of congestion tax problem. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding for the decision making processes, and how and why the companies decided as they did. The theory on which we based our study emanated from both systems theory and business economic theory on decision making.

The aim of this study is to examine how students and teachers experience full class lectures in contrast to working individually in mathematics education. Furthermore, the study explores how different ideas of individualization influence the teaching practice.The investigation uses qualitative interviews and the survey analysis is based on the phenomenographic method. The interviews took place in two senior level compulsory schools and both teachers and students were interviewed. The ambition has been to explore the teachers? perspectives regarding their choice of method in the teaching of mathematics.

The ability to tackle NP-hard problems has been greatly extended by the introduction of Metaheuristics (see Blum & Roli (2003)) for a summary of most Metaheuristics, general problem-independent optimisation algorithms extending the hill-climbing local search approach to escape local minima. One of these algorithms is Iterated Local Search (ILS) (Lourenco et al., 2002; Stützle, 1999a, p. 25ff), a recent easy to implement but powerful algorithm with results comparable or superior to other state-of-the-art methods for many combinatorial optimisation problems, among them the Traveling Salesman (TSP) and Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). ILS iteratively samples local minima by modifying the current local minimum and restartinga local search porcedure on this modified solution. This thesis will show how ILS can be implemented for MSA.

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.

The aim with this study was to examine professional peoples' view on the reason why females, under the age of 18 years old, self-harm and the professionals view on their treatment. The study is qualitative and based on eight interviews with professional personnel who work with young females with self-harm behavior in the region of Skåne. To be able to analyze our qualitative interviews we used two theories; the attachment theory and trauma theory. The results of this study show that there are many different functions with the self-harm behavior and that the cause of the behavior can be different among the females. Most of the young females seem to self-harm to reduce anxiety but some also do it to punish themselves, to feel alive or to belong to a group of friends.

Abstract The purpose of the essay was to investigate how you can work with conflict management through drama, to promote the meeting with children from many different cultures. I also wanted to see how the work may be different in a heterogeneous or homogeneous group of children.In the background I lift up what a conflict can be, what kind of conflict management methods there are, how to work with drama education as well as what ethnic conflicts can be.The literature studies have shown that there are different types of conflicts and that the conflict management methods are many. In an attempt to get answers to my questions I?ve had drama lessons focusing on conflicts in a heterogeneous and homogeneous group of children in grades 3.My study has shown that conflict management through drama can increase the understanding of other cultures and promote the meeting between children. Just as the literature describes conflicts, they can be difficult to solve and it is important to find a method that suits the class you work with.Key- words: conflict, conflict management, drama, homogeneous, heterogeneous..

The purpose of this thesis is to study and determine how working in cross functional teams can generate value in an effort to facilitate innovation. An inductive scientific perspective is chosen as the research approach. A single case is investigated with the theoretical framework based on Resource Based View, Intellectual Capital, Innovation theory and theories concerning Cross Functional Teams. The empirical material has been collected through primary data; surveys, interviews and secondary data; literature, websites and further complementary data. The practice of using Cross Functional Teams will enhance organizational learning, knowledge transfer, increase communication and innovation, which in turn will increase the speed and performance of the new product development process.

The ability to tackle NP-hard problems has been greatly extended by the introduction of Metaheuristics (see Blum & Roli (2003)) for a summary of most Metaheuristics, general problem-independent optimisation algorithms extending the hill-climbing local search approach to escape local minima. One of these algorithms is Iterated Local Search (ILS) (Lourenco et al., 2002; Stützle, 1999a, p. 25ff), a recent easy to implement but powerful algorithm with results comparable or superior to other state-of-the-art methods for many combinatorial optimisation problems, among them the Traveling Salesman (TSP) and Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). ILS iteratively samples local minima by modifying the current local minimum and restartinga local search porcedure on this modified solution. This thesis will show how ILS can be implemented for MSA.

Being able to reflect, evaluate and justify your views is an important part of adult life. Moral education can be a path to develop this knowl-edge; however, it is possible that the moral education gets more obscure when it is not a separate subject. The purpose with this essay is to examine the need of moral education and the presence and the framing of moral education of seven teachers in religion. The purpose is also to analyse where and how the moral education should be included in the curriculum. The survey was conducted through qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic approach.

About a quarter of the Swedish land area is covered with shallow or thick peat. There is a potential to increase forest production in Sweden with almost 2 million m3/year in selected peatlands with low conservation values. This increase can be accomplished by drainage, complementary drainage, ditch maintenance operations and fertilization. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of knowledge regarding the management of forests on peatlands and was restricted to selected forest companies in Västerbotten County, with offices in Umeå. Three companies were chosen, SCA, Holmen and Norra Skogsägarna.