The subject of this two year Master's thesis in Library and Information Science is the information practices of illiterate immigrants in everyday life. The purpose is to examine how immigrants seek, identify, understand and value information sources and information, and how the practices have changed with their arrival in Sweden. It furthermore focuses on the barriers that illiterate immigrants meet in accessing and understanding information. It moreover investigates the strategies they use to overcome them.For this purpose twelve qualitative research interviews were carried out, with illiterate immigrants as well as with service providers. The theoretical concepts of the essay is information practices, which means that the information process is within a context, and information poverty, that people in different context do not have adequate and equal access to information and information sources.Using McKenzie's model of information practices, the essay concludes that illiterate immigrants are active in their information process, especially when they interact with information.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the target to convert the Swedish military aviation industry towards working within the civilian sector was planned and implemented parallel to the target of building a world-class military aircraft. A number of Government bills have been studied, bills directly Connected to the JAS-project as well as bills dealing with civilian project ?s for the military aviation industry. The first group includes bills dealing with the JAS-project ?s role in the overarcing defence policy, as well as the Government ?s bill specifying the guidelines for the JAS-project.

AbstractThe real estate sector is today responsible for 40 per cent of the total amount of energy consumption within the members of the EU. All over the world there are collaborations within research and projects to find ways of reducing the amount of energy consumed by the real estate sector. In Sweden, a directive from the European Union has posed demands on authorities as well as on the private sector to reduce the amount of energy consumed by new building constructions. Together with the directive from the EU there are also new requirements and demands from Boverket for the real estate sector.  These requirements mostly concern the energy consumption of kilowatt-hour per square metre and that the consumed energy also should be renewable.  The aim of this study is to explain what kind of value municipalities experience in using certifications and environmental investments for new and existing buildings. Within the chapter theory, essential areas are described such as; environmental certification systems, economical viability, proceeds Connected to building green, difficulties with building green, the performance of green buildings when affected by the behaviour of tenants and customer value.  The following chapter describes the methodology with which we have conducted this study.

This thesis treats the topic of user-generated comments Connected with news stories on news sites, meaning electronic word-of-mouth combined with PR. The writers have examined how different types of comments affect consumers' perception of the article and also what communication effects these comments generate in terms of attitudes, purchase intent and word-of-mouth intent. The results interesting to the news site owners, is that lots of comments and negative comments generate a negative effect by making the actual article less credible, attractive and worth reading (relative to the subsequent comments). On the positive side, serious comments imply that the news story is perceived as more interesting, than a news story followed by non-serious comments. From a brand equity perspective, the interesting results show that few comments compared to lots of comments, generate a better attitude to the brand, even though there is no difference in how positive or negative the comments are.

This project was led on behalf of Bombardier Transportation in Västerås, Sweden, incollaboration with KTH Stockholm and EPFL Lausanne. This project is Connected to thedevelopment of a new and simplified tilt system for rail vehicles.Growing competition from other means of transportation has forced railway companiesthroughout the world to search for increased performances.Travelling time is the mostobvious performance indicator that may be improved by introducing high-speed trains.They require very large curve radii and long transitions curves not to impairridecomfort, another performance indicator. Building new tracks adapted to high speedtrains is very costly and can only be justified where the passenger base is large.Trains with the capability to tilt the carbodies inwards the curve is a more cost efficientalternative. The tilt inwards reduces thelateral force felt by the passengers allowing thetrain to pass curves at enhanced speed with maintained ride comfort but increases thefrequency ofmotion sickness.The benefits of tilting trains are improved speed capability in curves and enhancedpassengers comfort, but at higher buying and maintenance cost. As the conventionaltrains increase their speed in curves, the performance advantage of tilting trains isreduced while their prize is still kept significantly higher and constant.

Background and problemThe Swedish mobile market is highly competitive despite the oligopoly that currently exists. A short product life cycle together with fads and new innovations puts pressure on the operators to respond to the ever changing environment and to develop and adapt their strategies after it.As a previous study regarding a specific operator?s strategy was cancelled due to the extensive confidentiality surrounding it, an interest was sparked to perform an industry analysis as this is clearly something the actors spend a great deal of time on developing. The launch of the 4G network will offer new opportunities for the operators regarding products services. It may also impact the competition on the overall market.PurposeThe purpose of this thesis is to present a deep analysis of the industry and give the reader a comprehensive picture of existing conditions.

The housing sector uses 40 % of the energy in Sweden and half of the electricity usage. Theuse of energy is the main reason to the increasing rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.This is the main motive but also a wish of higher safety, that is a higher rate of selfsufficientenergy production in Sweden, we want to decrease the need of using fossil fuel. Now whenthe energy price rise, the interest in energy issues increase and more people discuss thepossibility of reducing the usage of fossil fuel. A change to renewable energy such as sun,wind and water is the only solution where we can get a sustainable development.One way to contribute to a better use of energy is to build in the principle of passive house.The house is being built with a thick and tight insulation. If you use a heat-exchanger withhigh degree of efficiency and a final heating battery on the ventilation system, the heat fromlamps, devices and the ones living in the house should be enough to fulfil the criteria ofliving.

Business valuation is something that has been more general and discussion around this subject is very common. The discussions often revolve the various principles and procedures that a business appraiser can apply when a valuation of a business should be done. When there are different evaluation methods there are also resulting in an assumption that there are not so easy to create a complete objective business value. The individual evaluator choice of method will determine the result of the business value. The global world for each business has been more uncertain and turbulent/changeable which have tended to exacerbate the work for the evaluator to determine a business value.

Objective: The aim of the study is to describe pupils' understanding of the mathematical concept of function. How do pupils define the concept of function? What images of the concept of function evoke when they solve tasks, which involve identifying and constructing functions?Theory: A student's thinking about a mathematical concept depends on more than just the formal definition of the concept; therefore Tall and Vinner introduce the term concept image to describe the role cognitive structures play when students learn about concepts. The cognitive structure includes all mental images, associated properties and processes that an individual associates with a given concept. According to Sfard, an individual's understanding of mathematical concepts may have different character: an operational conception, where a concept is conceived as a process and a structural conception, where the given concept is conceived as an object, that is, as a whole.Method: 16 pupils at the Science Program at two different upper secondary schools inSweden answered a questionnaire on the mathematical concept of function.

Technology based self-service (TBSS) used in supermarket self-scanning checkouts is a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden. Studies on TBSS as a self- checkout device have been formerly carried out but with focus on the customer perspective. The authors therefore saw a challenge in covering the self-scan checkout concept, from a company perspective. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate, through a management perspective, the changes brought about by implementing an innovative TBSS system in Swedish supermarkets, and its effect on the competitiveness of the company. This is done by presenting and linking the theoretical framework and empirical study in the research.

In latter years there has been a discussion about the increasing importance of intangible assets and how to incorporate this fact into strategies, accounting and valuation. The ?Internet-bubble? is a recent event that drew much attention to intangible assets, and was an indicator of how complex it can be to value assets in general and intangible information in particular. Legislators recently addressed this issue by introducing IFRS3, which led to an update of IAS38, which in turn revised the methods for handling intangible assets. A specific intangible asset that has caused much debate is research and development (R&D), since it is commonly not allowed to be realized as an asset, which could cause implications concerning analysis and valuation.

The purpose of this masters´ thesis is to examine the attitudes of public librarians towards easy-to-read literature and see whether a connection between these attitudes and accessibility can be made. The study has been performed with a qualitative approach and consists of four depth interviews with emphasis on how librarians relate to and experience easy-to-read literature and its´ users. As complement to the depth interviews, two micro interviews were made. The study can be seen as a follow up to a survey I made 2005, commissioned by The centre for Easy- to-Read. As analytical tools the cultural sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, with his concepts field, cultural capital and habitus, have been used.

IT is often seen as a solution to many problems concerning effectiveness in organizations. Information systems within the healthcare sector is often viewed as medical devices rather than just systems or services. These medical devices are thoroughly regulated by laws, standards and certifications. In this study I participated in an innovative project that aimed to bring new life and use to the old fashioned patient journal by giving it a visual representation through the use of an avatar. I aimed to study the effects of regulators Connected with the patient journal as a source of information for the innovative project.

The aim of this paper is to find an algorithm to establish and maintain a virtual enclosure around a mobile unit. The area may take any form and should be scalable up to and including national borders. The enclosure is managed on the mobile unit. The target system is Android. Smartphones, tablets and more recently, cameras is examples of mobile units.

Due to a constantly increasing competitive pressure it is of great importance to constantly strive for improvements in order to gain competitive advantages. Lean Production is a concept that has been introduced with the aim to minimize waste and increase profitability. The purpose of this report is therefore to investigate how to perform effective planning according to the principles of Lean Production, in companys with customer exclusive products, through a case study at Sandvik Mining and Construction (SMC), and to investigate how SMC kan improve their planning of drifting rods at the production unit in Sandviken.The study started by creating a theoretical framework, to describe the subject planning and planning based on Lean Production. This frame work constituted the base for the case study which took place at Sandvik Mining and Construction, and also for the model and planning tool that has been introduced.The result of the study is partly a general model with factors that contribute to a more effective planning. These factors has beed identifed as SMED, which focuses on reducing set up times and in the end to facilitate the planning.