The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study how public librarians? view mediation of fiction: the knowledge needed, the thoughts expressed about their own and other adults reading of fiction and how the informants define their roles as mediators of fiction. The method used was qualitative interviews with six librarians at main libraries in Swedish cities of different sizes. The theoretical starting points are Louise M. Rosenblatt?s reader-response theory, Michail Bachtin?s theory of speech genres and Åse Tveit?s and Jofrid Karner Smidt?s theories about mediation of fiction.

In today's fast-paced, intense and complex media environment, it is hard for non-profit charity organizations to reach out and get their messages heard.In this study we examine whether the theories of advertising signaling also applies for charities. Past studies of the signaling theories indicates that higher perceived advertising expense leads to more positive effects on purchase behavior and brand perceptions. However, we believe that this does not apply for a charity organization. We argue that since charitable organizations have a fundamentally different mission than commercial companies, they will need different ways to signal quality and credibility, and therefore the common signal-theories will not hold for these organizations.To test our hypotheses, we conducted two surveys where the respondents saw one of five versions of the same ad for a well-known Swedish charity organization, or one of two ads for a commercial corporation. The ads had been manipulated to simulate different levels of perceived cost.Our results shows that perceived ad cost only affects attitude towards the ad if a charity was the sender, whereas perceived ad cost affects intentions, attitudes and credibility if a commercial corporation was the sender.

The purpose with this essay is to examine and create an understanding for what meaning graffiti and street art has for those who practice it. Furthermore, the practice of graffiti and street art is seen in relation to how urban space is produced. Five semi-structured interviews and one group interview has been made to answer the questions "What meaning does graffiti and street art has for those who practice it? Can it be seen as a way to construct identity?" "How do the artists relate to existing ideals about public space?" and "Does the artists see graffiti and street art as a resistance against the normative representation of the city, in that case, how?" The theoretical framework consists of Mitchell's ideas about public space, Tonkiss' definition of social order, Lefebvre's spatial triad, de Certeau's concept of strategy and tactics, the concept of appropriation and Castell's theory about collective identity. The results showed that the practice of graffiti and street art can be understood as a more complex practice than earlier research has shown.

This study examinates technology's traumatic impact on the male subject in The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard. In my analysis I show how the protagonist uses a fetischistic strategy in order to make sense of the trauma that technology embeds. Paradoxically it proves to be the agent of his trauma, but also functions as his shield. The machine is thus in a position of the hinge, the point in a structural system that both enables and deconstruct the system.

 Tediousness, fear and boredom are all part of everyday?s life for a student. How can a teacher counteract these feelings of boredom and replace them with a feeling of pleasure of learning? Students have to be motivated and want to go to school every day. By comparing student?s experiences of motivation this essays purpose is to create a theory about factors for motivation in education.

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

Komplexitetsteori ger ett nytt synsätt på hälso- och sjukvårdens organisation, vilken beskrivs som ett komplext adaptivt system, vars ingående delar står i en inbördes relation till varandra och interagerar i dynamiska, icke linjära mönster. Detta synsätt kontrasterar mot det mer traditionella som ser sjukvården som en hierarkisk och linjär organisationsstruktur. Denna litteraturstudie har som syfte att beskriva hur omvårdnad kan påverkas av en organisationsstuktur präglad av teorin om komplexa adaptiva system. Elva artiklar granskades och analyserades, varvid fyra teman framträdde: ledarskap och medinflytande, samverkan, intellektuell mångfald och informationsflöde. Resultatet visar att omvårdnadsproblem uppmärksammades och åtgärdades snabbare på enheter som organiserats med fokus på medarbetarnas delaktighet och där ledarskapet främjat en hög grad av samverkan inom och mellan vårdens olika professioner samt verkat för ett klimat där alla medarbetare fritt kunde framföra och delge sina åsikter.

In this thesis a study about funding in civil-society organizations is carried out. The aim is to understand how an organization in civil-society is affected by different forms of financing models. The empirical material in the thesis consists of a case study of three Swedish civil-society organizations (CSO) producing social services in the field of rehabilitation of people with a drug addiction. The case study consists of mainly interviews with people holding a leading position in the three organizations together with a study of for the research question relevant documents. From the empirical material, including an extensive analysis of these organizations different income sources, a partial model of how to categorize and analyze different forms of funding in CSOs is developed.

Of all observable societal trends, the proliferation of standardizing processes is striking. Auditing standards are an illustrative example of this. Not only privately owned companies must today make available numbers and key figures to satisfy needs of information and knowledge. Government agencies are increasingly conforming to this trend, adopting standards for quality assurance and monitoring, producing numbers and annual reports ? despite their somewhat ambiguous task and role.

This thesis presents the work of developing and testing a programming tool specially designed for children. The purpose of this tool is to make children capable of creating visual simulations and games that consist of actors interacting in a virtual world. The name of the programming tool is Behavior Cards, which comes from the fact that actors are programmed by giving them cards representing different kinds of behaviors. Behaviors are to some extent pre-programmed and can include general events specifying how the actors should act in different situations, in contrast to specifying every possible situation that can occur. The idea is that Behavior Cards should be easier to use than a more traditional text based programming tool, but it should also be expressive within the domain of visual games.

AbstractBackground: The company that this report addresses is, at time for investigation, in the midst ofa change in organizational culture, where two departments with different core competencies arebrought together into one. The purpose of this study is to review the potential problems that mayoccur in the change process when one or more subcultures come into conflict with organizationalgoals.Purpose and methodology: The reason for performing this study and the objectives are toexamine how subcultures influence and respond to organizational changes. The survey isconducted with a bottom-up approach in which participation in daily activities with thesubgroups is the foundation. The management's perspective has been omitted in consideration ofpast literature in the field where focus most often has been on their thoughts and views on theprocess of organizational change. The method used is participant observation and interviews.Results and Conclusion: Subcultures exist and they do affect an organizational change.

In this final thesis two simulation models have been integrated. The simulation models are models of JAS 39 Gripen?s fuel system, software and hardware. The time consuming and costly work to develop software has made the department of fuel system to build two models in Xmath/Systembuild. The software model also simplifies the comprehension of how the software in the control computer of the fuel system works.

During my time as a student at the School of Library and Information Science in Borås there was an ongoing discussion regarding whether or not the library and librarian were facing an identity crisis and what future consequences this may lead to. The discussion was and still is of interest to me since it most likely will have an impact on the identity I soon will make part of my self as a professional librarian. This master?s thesis is an attempt that to through discourse analysis seek clarity in what the future identity of the library and the librarian may consist of. I do so by examining articles from the two library journals Ikoner and Biblioteksbladet.

SummaryIntroductory: Since the mid-90s, the numbers of places in psychiatric inpatient settings have decreased and accommodations for individuals with schizophrenia have become increasingly common. In addition to the basic needs that we humans have, individuals with schizophrenia may be in need of special support. Social support can be seen as a protective factor for maintaining health and the recovery of the individual. Lack of social support has shown to be linked to mental illness. The extent of need and support of individuals with mental disabilities may be such that they live in a special accommodation where such assistance can be provided by staff.

Roads and railroads have significant impact on the surrounding landscape and the wildlife living in it. This study aims to provide an overview of the effects caused by railways to reindeer, roe deer and moose in Sweden in order to make more detailed assessments within this topic in the future. The method used is a study of literature on the subject and a synthesis of databases with information about wildlife mortalities, traffic intensity and fences in the study area; northern and central Sweden. The databases were used to compile digital maps using ArcGIS. Infrastructure brings change to the surrounding landscape and its function as habitat for wildlife. Railroads cause barrier effects such as fragmentation, wildlife mortality, loss of habitat and loss of connectivity.