The relationship between fandoms and religion has become an increasingly popular topic to study within the field of the sociology of religion. In previous studies, there have been different views concerning whether or not fandoms should be regarded as religious from a functional perspective. This issue is especially interesting considering the decreasing popularity of traditional religion in some aspects. The aim of this essay is to study how Harry Potter fandoms are described in previous studies. The study aims at discerning both the empirical data and how the data is interpreted. The material in this study consists of three previous studies about the communities centered around Harry Potter fandoms.

Researchers claim that stress has become a word of fashion and is now frequently used. They also state that there is no accepted definition that can easily describe the concept. In this essay, I have examined children and stress. The aim of the diploma work is to illustrate stress more closely the stress concept, the underlying reasons that can influence children and how teachers and school staff support children in their stress handling. My three issues are: What is stress? What stressors put children, at home and at school, in a stress situation? How can teachers help children to manage their stress? The diploma work is based on a literature study in order to find out what has been written on the subject in earlier research.

AbstractThis thesis was conducted by Jenny Jansson and Maria Madsen, students at the Faculty ofTechnology and Science and the Innovation and Design Engineer programme at KarlstadUniversity, during the spring 2008. The thesis covers 22,5hp for each student. AnnaHolmquist and Chandra Ahlsell at the company FOLKFORM were the ones who requestedthe theis, their company are located at Stora Skuggan in Stockholm. Tutor for this thesis wasLennar Wihk and the examiner was Monika Jakobsson of Karlstad University.The given assignment came from FOLKFORM and the aim for the thesis was to create afurther development of two already existing lamps from an earlier collection at FOLKFORM,?Jaipur? and ?Modern Times?.

This thesis was conducted at Linköping University and Saab Aerostructures DPS, Linköping, and focuses on the possibilities of flexible fixturing in machining applications. The thesis is part of the research project "Koofix", which is collaboration between Linköping University and a number of companies.The thesis is aimed towards small batch production which, for Saab Aerostructures DPS, means diverse part geometry and that parts are manufactured in very small numbers, sometimes just one piece. The result of this is that expensive dedicated fixtures are made for most parts. By introducing more flexible fixturing methods to this kind of production the cost of fixtures and tooling will be reduced, and make the production more efficient.New flexible fixturing methods has been presented and evaluated through the thesis, which has resulted in three different concepts. These concepts have been the result of literature screening and study of current manufacturing process at Saab Aerostructures DPS.

Sustainable urban development is a concept that has become increasingly important as the urbanization continues and more and more challenges are focused to the cities.  The Swedish government and authorities regulates and sets goals for how a sustainable urban development is to be achieved. These laws and goals are vaguely defined, which leads to disputes between the actors about how the term should be interpreted. By examining Västermalms Strand, an urban development project in Stockholm, this study strives to describe how involved actors interpret the concept of sustainable urban development and what the consequences of this are for urban development in Stockholm from an ecological, social and economic perspective. A case study has been carried out where a document study and interviews have been conducted. The interviews were conducted with four key actors from the private and public sector.

AbstractKnowledge is today usually used as a way to compete in todays working life. It has become a fashionable concept and is used without a purpose. Both Plato and Aristotle used knowledge as a concept and Plato foremost acknowledged the theoretical aspect of knowledge and called it episteme. The practical aspect of knowledge was by Aristotle called techne. Today there are several concepts that describe the practical and theoretical aspect of knowledge.

The purpose of this essay was to study some selected magazine articles by examining how the concept of child poverty is produced in the public debate, and to see if the definition of the term has changed over time. The theoretical approach on which this study is based has been used as a tool to provide better understanding on the subject. Furthermore, theories of consumer society, the "collateral damage" and the theory of welfare regimes have been used. In the previous research presented in the paper focuses on linking children and families living in precarious economic conditions, consumer standards and welfare systems that characterize society.This study has a qualitative approach as it attempts to capture and increase understanding of how the concept of child poverty can be understood from a Swedish context. The study is based on newspaper articles that are studied using a structural text analysis.

The purpose of this investigation is to reveal those hidden factors, which influence how leadership is practised, as well as the roles male and female play in their professions. Furthermore this investigation aims to elude the expectations and demands that leaders experience and their origin.The investigation is based on six interviews of senior managers, two male and four female. A qualitative approach has been utilized to penetrate the subject and understanding of the identified phenomenon. The theories employed to analyse the finding are Lincoln, Gerth & Mills and Merton. To further highlight certain specific results parts of Ahrne, Beck & Beck-Gernsheim theories have also been empoyeed.

This study is mainly critical-theoretic and explores the theoretic jungle of the concept of intersectionality with the use of Post-colonial and Feminist theories. The purpose of the thesis is also to investigate the concept of intersectionality further by looking upon its practical use as theoretic tool. This is performed in a discourse analysis of two programs developed by Swedish Liberal Party autumn of 2005. Another purpose is to discuss the multiculturalist dilemma as well as the phenomenon of a hegemonic western Feminism. One conclusion of this thesis is that the use of intersectionality is not unproblematic.

The physical environment is constructed of materials. The materiality of different places contributes to how places can be distinguished and the material can contribute to the construction of place identity. For architects with different orientations the material is one of the principal means by which they can express their idea. The material remains when the design process is finished and instead the material becomes a precondition for how people will perceive and deal with the place. The literature study of the essay examines how the concept of place and materiality is dealt with in different disciplines and how these descriptions are linked to the concept of place identity.

This thesis is about how students see their education, creativity and future based on our understanding of the concept of entrepreneurial learning. The aim is to highlight if and how this relatively new concept in the school world is rooted in pupils everyday lives. To get answers to our questions, we talked to students about their thoughts and reflections on their schooling, but also their views on how they think their future will look like. We have also examined what students associate to the concept of creativity by letting the pupils make a mind map during the interview sessions. Research and theories are talking about how to conduct school education, but despite all this knowledge the results in today´s schools drops.

Aim: This paper aims to produce a serviced office concept adjusted to Statens fastighetsverk. The concept will make SFV:s properties more attractive for renting. Method: Information has been collected from interviews with 13 different serviced office companies, one serviced office agent and eleven government authorities. Also litterateur, reports and internet have been used in gathering information.I will use following questions:¨      How is the serviced office concept designed?¨      Which customer segment should SFV direct to and what need does the segment have?¨      How shall a marketing plan look like for the concept?¨      How should a concept designed for SFV look like? Result & Conclusions: Serviced office space is a company that letting functional workspace with access to shared facilities e.g. reception, office machines, internet, phone and more.

Biological diversity is one out of four dimensions, characterizing the subject of Biology ac-cording to the school curriculum. As a concept, biological diversity had its break through at the UN environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where the convention about bio-logical diversity, named CBD, was signed. According to the convention, almost all the na-tions of the world have engaged themselves to preserve the national diversity of species, in-cluding the diversity of genetics and ecological systems.This thesis focuses the biological diversity from the perspective of school books. The aim is to find out how the biological diversity is presented in biology books for students aged 12-15 years.In 1994, the current Swedish secondary and high school curriculum called LPO-94 was pre-sented. The biology books used in this study were published between 1994 and 2007, all of them exist in many editions and are published by three different publishers.The conclusion of the study is that all the biology books that were examined have reached different levels of the development in the field of biological diversity..

The process of producing a video game is one that goes through a number of phasesduring the span of the entire production. One of these phases is the concept design phase,which is part of the pre-production. This phase is an important aspect of the productionas it is where all the different parts and ideas concerning the game are brought togetherto define what the game is going to be. Though a clearly important part of the videogame production surprisingly little research have been done on the subject of conceptdesign. This thesis presents what place concept design has in the overall game productionand how the design process is handled.

In a society where adults set the conditions for children?s play and generate modern and at times technically advanced products, fundamental characteristics like simplicity, opportunities for motor skills training and learning tend to be neglected. Owing to this, the Linköping-based company Time In wants to introduce a new multifunctional product, which differs from other products in shape and function and lives up to the often overlooked, basic characteristics in a toy.With Time In as the assigner, the purpose of this master thesis has been to use simple means to produce a "learning by playing" concept. Since Time In sells toys and products suitable for children in nurseries and preschools, the development of the products has therefore included a study of nursery and preschool environments.The thesis has been carried out within the Product Design subject area at the Department of Management and Engineering at Linköping University. Concept development has been done in three phases: the Preparation phase, the Design phase and the Presentation phase.