Changes in the labour market combined with an increased media coverage of managers, have resulted in the rise of a new human due diligence industry. The use of background checks has lately become increasingly popular on the Swedish market and many companies use it as an evaluation tool when recruiting. This study investigates differences in the background screening procedure for recruitment to executive management positions and lower level positions. It also aims to answer why background checks are conducted, using a cultural and a functional perspective. The report takes an abductive approach and data has primarily been gathered through a survey directed to large Swedish companies.

This masters thesis is a study of official political documents in order to discuss privatisation and the Swedish public libraries. In the 1990s public libraries became placed on contractors, and that was said to be one form of privatisation. The main issue for this study concerns driving forces and obstacles for privatisation of public libraries. Another issue concerns advantages and risks. We will also discuss how the future of public libraries will be in this context.

The purpose of my study is to investigate teacher?s perceptions of their mission in the preschool class, and how they work to promote children?s written language development. What methods and working methods they use to awaken curiosity and motivate children to read and write. I am using the qualitative research method to get answers to my questions. I have made four qualitative interviews with four teachers in preschool classes from different schools.My questions are:What conceptions does teachers have about their mission in a preschool class?What different methods and approaches does teachers use to stimulate and wake children?s curiosity for reading and writing development?The theoretical basis for my study is the socio-cultural perspective, where learning occurs in interaction.

Syftet med det här examensprojektet var att undersöka och diskutera hur fanidentiteten konstrueras och uttrycks av medlemmarna av fan communityn prince.org. Syftet med kortfilmsfilmmanuset var att sätta mig i kontext till hur fans framställs i film och TV och ge en mer mänsklig och underhållande bild av analysen. Det teoretiska perspektiv som arbetet utgått från är Cultural Studies där mediepubliken ses som aktiv med förmågan att vara kritisk. För att samla in data användes netnografi som metod, det vill säga etnografiska studier på Internet. Förutom observationer utfördes även intervjuer med sju medlemmar av prince.org. För att hitta en bra struktur för filmmanuset kombinerades Thurlows (2008) åtta punkter med Raskins (1998) fem parametrar. Resultaten av studien visar att fanidentiteten är komplex och att det inte går att ge ett enhetligt svar på frågan vad ett fan är. Även om en del akademiker starkt framhäver fandoms positiva sidor är det ändå problematiskt då även det kan vara stereotyperande och utesluta de fans som inte passar in.

Urban trees have very little in common with trees on natural sites, such as forests or pastures. Trees in urban environments are often planted in packed soil and in small volumes. This can lead to decreased availability of water and oxygen, as well as deteriorated ability for the soil to store nutritional elements. Also above ground the tree usually have limited space in cities. Regulations on free height over roads and cycle tracks demands high stems at an early stage of their development.

The aim of this study has been to, through a couple of chosen theories, examine in what way Japan as a nation can be said to have dealt with its dark past - concerning their crimes of war just before and during World War II. To do so, I have placed two chosen war crimes, namely the Nanjing Massacre and the matter of the Comfort Women, in the context of remembrance and commemorating of war, through different kinds of aspects. Those aspects are: the textbook conflict, official apologies, ruthless/unnecessary comments, and visits and commemorations at the Yasukuni shrine.I have found during this study that the nation of Japan has not been able to generate a broadly accepted dominant cultural memory of the war. Henceforth a couple of rival cultural memories are competing and becoming an issue of national division rather than national unity. I have come to the knowledge that there are both domestic and international political factors at play, resulting in this division..

This thesis investigates the former apple orchard ?pplehagen with a focus on its origin, history, and remaining fruit trees. Historical aerial photographs, historical maps, an interview with a former owner, together with a field investigation has served as the methods of this survey. The investigation shows that ?pplehagen probably was established between 1882 and the 1930?s as a rational orchard in the spirit of the time aiming to produce fruit both for household and for sale.

Title: Investor or Maecenas? ? A study on the usage of venture capital within the Swedish film industry.Author: Tobias MagnussonSupervisors: Ahmad Ahmadi, Clas GunnarssonPurpose: The purpose with this thesis is to complement the research on procurement of capital within the Swedish film industry.Methodology: The primarily research method that have been used to gather material is qualitative interviews, that has been performed with four individuals that are active in the Swedish film industry.Theory: In order to create an adequate theoretical base, theories regarding investments and cultural entrepreneurship are presented.Empirics: In this chapter the results of the interviews are presented, sorted in several subcategories. The material is thereafter analyzed and discussed in the following chapter, with the theoretical base in mind.Conclusion: The usage of venture capital within the Swedish film industry is relatively low today. Non-monetary values are the primary reason to invest in the Swedish film industry today. A significant risk diversification, together with knowledge dispersion needs to be made in order to make the Swedish film industry more attractive to investors.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how librarians/cultural workers act in projects in order to stimulate and promote reading among children and youth in sparsely populated regions in the county of Jämtland during a period of three years, and if/how these projects differ. The examination is based upon the progress of these projects in four of eight communities. Four librarians and two cultural workers have been interviewed in order to get their view of the proceedings of the projects. The results indicate that the four communities all made up plans for three years but in different ways. They mainly collaborated with the school but also with the board of children's health and the preparatory school.

The aim of the study is to examine how different factors,such as views on how knowledge is produced and howlearning takes place, effect the way an academic librarymanages space. This is done by looking into how a specificlibrary, namely Library & Learning Resources (LLR) at theUniversity of Borås, by re-planning the building?s structure,design and functions, can support the students? differentstudying habits. The analysis is performed by using a theoreticalperspective built by a model first created by thearchitect Daniel Koch. The model is designed to look uponhow space produces meaning and knowledge.

During the last decennium climate issues have become more and more important. Many steps towards an adaption of efficient energy supply systems have been taken all around the world. These steps have been created to ensure the next generation?s energy demand. In EU and Sweden objectives have been set to ensure that the energy consumption decreases by 20% year 2020 and by 50% year 2050 compared with the energy consumption levels of year 1995.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how immigrants have experienced nurse's attitude and how they would like nurse´s to care for them in the Swedish health care. Method: The authors have conducted an interview study with qualitative approach. The sampling method used was a convenience sample. The informants were recruited at a school after the authors received the principal's approval. Eight semi-structured interviews were performed with an interview guide for support.

The city of Kalmar has a desire that their 3D maps of the city should come to a greater use and get residents more involved in Kalmar city. The purpose of this report is to show one way to work with these 3D maps when it comes to presenting information about Kalmar for its residents and tourists in a specific area.  The report also includes information about advantages and disadvantages with the use of 2D and 3D maps in different environments. Various reports and other sources indicate an interest in 3D and a use for this, but even that 2D is still seen as a natural way to read a map. By collecting information from relevant literature, interviews and user testing, the group has obtained sufficient background information to present the results of a web site, where the visitor can navigate in both 2D and 3D in a specific area of Kalmar. User tests and surveys have been conducted in two rounds and the web site has been revised after their results..

The quality of a design can improve essentially through a participatory designprocess. Initially, The Mulberry School project was supposed to be finished in two months but the involvement of artist Scott G Burnham extended the work and brought a new dimension into the project. In the beginning, Scott and I both worked on the project unaware of each other. I was appointed by the architect to design the external areas of the school and based on a site survey and analysis of the factors infl uencing the site I created a design proposal with the concept form and function. At the same time Scott performed a series of workshops initiated by the school. The purpose and goal was to include the students in the redevelopment of the school and to produce a design based on the thoughts and wishes of the students.

This study examines the cultural place and status of video and computer games in the Swedish public library. Using works on popular culture and the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, this study employs quantitative methods, as well as textual analysis, to analyze the results of an online questionnaire with 19 questions focusing on selection criteria, shelf placement, perceived competence, as well as reasoning for having or not having these games in the library. 286 out of the 440 libraries contacted is participating in the study, and the libraries consist exclusively of public libraries in Sweden that are found in the database of the Royal Library.The results of this study show that a larger number of libraries than previously indicated have started to provide electronic games to their patrons. At the same time, patterns in the data and comments suggests that these games in many cases still do not enjoy the same level of cultural recognition as other media. Indicative of this is the way most libraries seem to focus on the medium being exclusively for their young patrons, with seem-ingly very little in the way of investment for adults.