This is a tale about energy and power. It describes the geographer Halford Mackinder?s geopolitical theories and compares them with current views outlined by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Michael T Klare, among others. With a critical approach it also provides a historical account of a Europe that stands in front of an energy struggle so severe that the current world order seems destined to fall. Oil and natural gas, has since the beginning of the 20th century, been used as a geopolitical tool in order to create dependence, control and even sometimes overthrow empires.

Sustainability issues have become increasingly high-profile and important in recent decades. In addition, quality issues have come to play a central role in corporate marketing, strategy and management. The word quality can be defined differently in different contexts. This paper focuses on the concept of quality, based on the Total Quality Management perspective, which in Swedish has come to be known as Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling has been described as a theoretical framework in which an organization continually strives to meet and preferably exceed customer needs and expectations at the lowest cost through continuous improvement, and in which all members of the organization are committed and focused on the organisation's processes. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to clarify the applicability of the theoretical model Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling as a theoretical explanatory model. Second, to explore how Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB performs according to the values in Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. A multiple case study was conducted in order to explore these topics. The results showed that Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is working in a dedicated and value-driven manner, aligned with the values ??that form the basis for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. The results also showed that the model for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling could serve well as a theoretical explanatory model, but that the model would benefit from being developed, enriched or integrated with other models.

This thesis includes an energy survey of the Herrgården pre-school, which has a modern heating- and ventilation system, and a comparison with Östers pre-school which has an older system. An energy survey of Östers pre-school has already been done by a group of three students and all the calculations and values have been collected from that survey. As of today, both pre-schools are heated thru district heating. It will be much easier to make smart and feasible energy-saving-measures by first conducting the energy survey.Herrgården pre-school in Gävle houses 81 children, therteen teachers, one cleaner and one cook. It was finished in the middle of 2009 and the staff has been very pleased with the in-door climate.

The purpose of this study has been to find out what possibilities the journalists at the newspaper Aftonbladet have to live up to the proposed ideas and values that defines journalism, as well as how these values are presented to the readers. With this as a starting-point we have studied what kind of society Aftonbladet presents to its readers as well as how this society is supposed to work and also what it`s like. To be able to answer this question we have first researched through theories and earlier studies, literature about journalism, media science, semiotics, history and laws. With the help of the investigation we found fitting tools to perform the analysis. With the theory as groundwork we have, through the qualitative approach analyzed seven news articles from seven Aftonbladet newspapers during one week.Our study shows that the Afonbladet?s journalists have not been able to present occurrences in society in a correct and impartial manner - because they exaggerate insignificant details and neglect to show real attention to serious societal structures by using sensationalism, dramatization and a very superficial approach to the stories that they are conveying.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the ideological currents that have influenced the swedish school system since the 1990's. The background of my interest is the lively debate in schools and media about the new School reform 2011. My hypothesis is that education in 2011 largely will be influenced by neoliberal and neoconservative values. The method I`ve used is discourse and ideology critique, which examines the relationship between rhetoric and power. These concepts are useful to explain the ideological change in different policy documents and in curricula, for example Lpf 94 and School 2001. The theoretical framework is based primarily on the neoliberal and the neoconservative agenda, which are two distinct political rationalities in the contemporary postmodern world.

The aim of this master thesis is to study the relationship between general ethics and professional ethics, to attain an understanding of which values that are given priority in the profession of the librarian regarding personal encounter towards library users. The posed questions are: How can fundamental ethical principles be understood through the view of public librarians? How can policy documents regarding librarian ethics be understood through the view of public librarians? How can policy documents regarding librarian ethics be problematized in relation to fundamental ethical principles? We used four focus groups consisting of public librarians. Three theoretical frameworks create the base of the analysis; four fundamental ethical principles, ethical guidelines for Swedish librarians and recommendations for Swedish librarians in the reference service. Three main issues emerge in the study; equalistic personal encounter where the principle of justice is emphasized but also problematized, library users? integrity which mainly coincide with the principle of autonomy and finally the librarian?s professional role which are being defined by librarian specific competence to refrain violation of the principle of injury avoidance.

Research establishes, that clothes constantly communicate something about its wearer. You send out different messages depending on what sort of clothes you are wearing. For example, a suit can project social status and power, while, a pair of jeans usually conveys a more casual impression. Either way, research state that clothes are symbolic expressions.This essay focuses on the theme clothes and pupils within the school world. Do pupils today experience clothes as symbolic values? By using qualitative interviews, I have examined how four senior high school pupils talk about clothes and its potential symbolic value in school.

The theory of ?security communities? is generally understood as ?dependable expectations of peaceful change? between groups and whether or not the African Union can be said to meet that criteria has been contested in the research community. One of the central disagreements lie in the nature of the region?s conflicts, of which a majority are intrastate but with tendencies of transnational involvement. This paper seeks to understand how extensive this involvement is and how it affects the possibility of classifying the African Union as a security community.

Thesis purpose: This thesis will through a case study of a recently rebranded bank ?Jyske Bank?, seek to research deeper within the field of service sector rebranding. The internal communication used in connection to the rebranding, will be analyzed in order to investigate what initiatives Jyske Bank?s organizational leaders launched to implement the rebranding and furthermore whether the initiatives have worked. The research questions are: - What are the critical initiatives behind the re-branding process, and have these initiatives been successful?- Furthermore, to determine the success: To what extend does the intended image, created by the organizational leaders of Jyske bank, in relation to the rebranding, correlate with the identity held by the organizational members? Methodology: This thesis employs a mix of quantitative questionnaires and qualitative semi structured interviews.Theoretical perspectives: Corporate rebranding framework (Daly & Moloney, 2004) and a conceptualization of the employee branding process (Miles & Mangold, 2005)Empirical data: The empirical data was collected from in depth interviews with management and questionnaires from employees.

Detta arbete avslutar magisterutbildningen inom Industriell design vid Luleåtekniska universitet. Arbetet har utförts på uppdrag av Agency-9, utvecklareav Javabaserade 3D-motorer. De har tekniken för att producera dataspel avtoppklass men ingen grafisk formgivning och produktion, och är i stort behovav att få igång detta. För att visa upp funktionaliteten i deras 3D-motorAgent FX vill de även ta fram ett demo. Metoderna som använts under arbetet baseras på teorierna om systematiskproblembehandling som lärs ut vid Institutionen för arbetsvetenskap, LTU.

AbstractAt Saltvikens copperindustry, which is located in the municipality of Oskarshamn, copper was refined from sulphiteore some hundred years ago. The ore underwent several steps in the process before the final product was received. These steps all had an influence on the environment through discharge of heavy metals. The area where the copper industry was located is today considered to be of specific national interest due to its valuable nature and cultural values, as well as its value for recreational outdoor activities. Therefore, it is important to determine the present level of contamination and if any transport of contaminants have occurred, and to identify the risks that are associated with the site both at present and in a longer time perspective.Thirtynine soil samples and 16 sediment samples have been analyzed.

Communication of sustainable development has become an increasingly important part of organisation?s corporate branding. Consumers demand more transparency from businesses and want to know more about how they work with these issues. An important part of how internal communication can be used to reach organisational success involves organisation?s employees.

This study aimed at supplementing the Swedish National Agency for Education?s (Skolverket) study (2006) I enlighet med skolans värdegrund? which investigated whether textbooks in various school subjects went against the fundamental values in the curricula Lpf94 and Lpo 94. Due to this study?s supplementing intention, this study uses a similar title as Skolverket. By adding a new subject (Swedish) to Skolverket?s study, this study also strived to show how discrimination might be present in other subjects than the ones Skolverket involved in their study.

From an investigation by Finansinspektionen and KTH (2009) it is apparent that financial advisors and their clients develop relations, believing that they understand each other, while in fact, they do not. The media tends to notice the conflict of interests between advisors and retirement annuity clients. The aim of this study is to create a greater understanding as to why misunderstandings occur between advisors and clients. This will be accomplished by a quality study of how advisors and trade unions assess how the relationship functions. The theoretical part consists of theories concerning relations and uncertainty.

För närvarande läses elmätare av en gång per år, detta leder till att kunders elräkning baseras på ett schablonbaserat belopp. Enligt riksdagens proposition 2002/03:85 skall dock alla elkunder, senast fr.o.m. 1 juli 2009, faktureras efter faktisk elförbrukning varje månad. Detta har lett till en stor marknad för fjärravlästa elmätare som nu är ett måste för att kunna utföra den tätare avläsning som krävs. E.ON ES Sverige AB som är beställare av detta examensarbetet har specialiserat sig på att installera, underhålla och läsa av fjärravlästa elmätare åt nätägare.