Based on an analytical overview of post-Communist civil society development in Russia, the present thesis attempts a critical discussion of general civil society theory from the perspective of its relevance for the case study in question. The text consists of three closely interconnected, mutually reinforcing parts. In the first part, major issues of current civil society research are being thematically presented and discussed. The second part concerns itself with the case study as such. It is divided into two parts, one dealing with the relations between state and civil society in Russia, the other with civil society and the individual.

A current issue today is to try to implement creative design as a way to solve wicked problems in scientific contexts such as HCI. Since the problems are wicked, they have no given solution which makes the traditional methods inadequate. In these cases, creative design can be an alternative. Creative design is not used in scientific contexts because it is viewed as something unaccountable.In this essay we argue that creative design not necessarily have to be unaccounted. We discuss various views of creative design and translate theory to a practical context.

Light pollution in urban areas - How to prevent light pollution at construction Jakob Sjöling Light pollution is a relatively new but rapidly growing form of pollution. Society's increasing demand for light coupled with the pace at which lighting technology evolves is accelerating that growth. The purpose of this study was to analyse how the construction industry plan and design outdoor lighting when erecting new buildings, specifically with regards to the issue of light pollution. It also investigated how local authorities work with these issues during urban planning. In both cases special interest was placed in ways to improve the planning and use of outdoor lighting in order to minimize light pollution.

The study aims to examine how three books written for teenagers and young adults address topics that are generally considered as deviant to social norms in order to conclude if they can contribute to a norm critical pedagogy in school. Norm critical pedagogy is foremost based on gender- and queer theory and tends to discuss how social norms and power structures are constructed and reproduced in different social contexts. To work in a norm critical fashion the teacher must be aware of the present norms and work to make the pupils conscious of them. Thereby the focus is on existing norms, rather on the deviances. To use norm critical pedagogy correct it must be incorporated in all subjects in school.The books that have been analysed in this essay are Syskonkärlek by Katarina von Bredow, Henrietta är min hemlighet by Maja Hjertzell and Tusen gånger starkare by Christina Herrström.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate if the robotized welding method FSW (Friction Stir Welding) could be applied for joining a rotating structure in an aero engine at Volvo Aero Corporation. FSW is expected to introduce less defects than today?s welding methods and could therefore be suitable for critical aero components. The material is the nickel based alloy Inconel 718, however a material experimentation is outside the scope of this report.The main goal of this study is to verify if the ESAB ROSIO robot based FSW-system has a suitable work space to be able to weld the rotating structure, and if the welding tool has accessibility to the joints. The FSW-process needs a rigid fixture, and a number of fix-ture concepts are presented based on a proposed weld sequence.

Bachelor essay in political science by Marie Åberg, autumn 2011. ?Harm or benefit? A critical view of the theoretical grounds of the international development aid?. Supervisor: Professor Mats Lindberg. The first of the dual purpose of this essay is to present international aid policy ideas and the theoretical grounds of international development aid.

This degree project contains a theoretical and a practical part about magazine design. Literature aboutthe subject?s typography and magazine design has been studied and put into practice on the professionaljournal Ingenjören. Besides of that a study about the history of magazine typography for the lastfifty years has been done.Typography and other design factors are important for the magazine to be readable and gives at thesame time the magazine an identity of its own, which has become more and more important throughoutthe last decades.The result of this degree project is a new design for Ingenjören, a design that agrees more with howthe journal want to be considered. A new template, a dummy and a manual have been produced.

This thesis examines the relationship between the marginalization of ornamentation during functionalist modernism and the effect it had on female graphic design practice. By examining the historiography from a gender and feminist theory of history I present a different way of interpreting, not only the history of graphic design but also the concept of graphic design. This thesis does not reach a conclusive result, instead it sets the foundation for further research and illustrates the opportunities that we as graphic designers have to benefit contemporary graphic design by critically reviewing and redefining our history through a diverse historiography..

'Hir in the box' is a study about the gender perspective in packaging design and how it is today. The study deals with the product category razors, for both women and men, to examine and compare products with the same function but with different designs. Based on an analysis of how packages are designed for different sexes, information should be given on how gender-neutral packaging can be designed and used in the future to reach the market. The purpose of the study is also to contribute to future research on the subject. To fulfill the purpose of this study, nuanced and in-depth data is collected by means of a small-N-study and a qualitative study in the form of open group interviews where the survey units are reviewed and discussed.

Research is a time-consuming endeavor which requires appropriate tools to manage often vast amounts of information. Militarization 2.0 is a research project aiming to explore Militarization in social media. The aim of this project is to design a user interface for supporting researchers in projects involving large amounts of data in qualitative studies. The project will follow the design process of the first version of the Militarization 2.0 research database interface. The design process involves user studies, interviews and design and testing of paper and digital prototypes.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how young members of Free Churches relate to issues connected with lifestyle and identity, based on the changed conditions for the self in late modernity. More specifically, I want to examine how they deal with the increased degree of detraditionalisation and institutional individualization in late modernity.My research-question is:How do young members of Free Churches relate to issues connected with lifestyle and identity, with the increased degree of personal freedom and institutional individualization in late modernity as a starting point?The empiric part of the essay is carried out by qualitative in-depth interviews with five young members of Free Churches. These semi-structured interviews are focused on a number of different areas of the changed conditions for the self in late modernity.My theoretical perspective has been constructed from the theories of Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. From these theories a focus on certain relevant areas of the condition of the self in late modernity, has developed.

I projektet, som är ett examensarbete från programmet högskoleingenjör i teknisk design vid Luleå tekniska universitet, har ett koncept på en delvis förarlös bil tagits fram. Arbetet har utförts mot instutitionen för arbetsvetenskap och har givit värdefull erfarenheter inför fortsatta studier vid Umeå Institute of Design. Resultatet är en lyxig fyradörrars kupé med tänkt lansering omkring år 2020. Bilen sköter till största delen av tiden körningen på egen hand men tillåter även manuell körning på ett nytt och revolutionerande sätt. Fordonet är även en social mötesplats där passagerarna får uppleva en ny dimension av att resa med bil..

The aim: was to describe and compare a group of experts and critical care nurses' agreement in detecting delirium in intubated, ventilator treated patients with sedation / analgesia, before and after an in house training intervention with the instrument Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU).Method: A quasi-experimental study, one group pretest - posttest design. A convenience sample of 17 critical care nurses in a general intensive care unit included. To detect delirium the instrument CAM-ICU was used, 21 paired tests before and 22 after an educational intervention.Main Results: The results showed that after an in house training intervention sensitivity and kappa coefficient improved of the characteristic 1 "acute onset and fluctuating course," an improvement that was significant. In other features, and overall values were signs of numerical improvement and deterioration in sensitivity, specificity and kappa coefficient but no significant change.Conclusion: Implementing a new instrument for detecting delirium in clinical practice requires education and follow-up. A small sample of critical care nurses with varying ability to use the new instrument and the fact that patients' status may change rapidly making it difficult to draw any conclusions from this study.

The company Somas, Säffle, has assigned Fredrik Kjellin the project of finding out how ?KVTF DN250?, one of their own valves, reacts on cutting forces under production. They wish to know if and then how much it?s possible to minimize the wall thickness of the valve with neither plastic nor to big elastic deformations caused by processing.The most critical processes have been identified as rough lathing. The study has shown that the marginal for a wall thickness of two millimeters, to fall short of the yield stress in the most critical process, is good.

This is a qualitative study based on interviews with teachers, social workers and school counselors ? with aim to analyze how norm critical social work is in schools. Gender and sexuality norms are in focus which is analyzed in a intersectional and queer theoretical perspective. The study shows that what is defined as a norm in the society varies both socially, historically and culturally. School is a reflection of its society and therefore also reflects its norms, such as heteronormativity and gender roles.