In this thesis work a Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology to identify locations suitable for the installation of wave energy converters has been developed. Parameters of importance have been identified and a GIS-database has been set up, containing data about the marine environment. In a case study of the Swedish west coast the methodology has been applied, resulting in a number of maps showing possible areas. The results show that large areas are suitable for installation of wave energy converters, from a technical and economical point of view. When consideration is taken to other interests in the area, such as navigation, fishing and environmental protection, the size of the suitable area diminishes considerably.

The overall aim of this case study is to find the conditions for pupils in the nine-year compulsory school with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are instructed in the ordinary classroom. The study explores what kind of support the schools offer these pupils. The study also examines the views of the teachers´, special educators´, principals´ and municipal representatives on what kind of support these pupils need and ought to be offered.The methods used were qualitative interviews and a questionnaire study.The theoretical basis of the study is the three different perspectives of special pedagogy. These perspectives represent three different views on the disorders of pupils.The overall result shows that the municipality offers little support for schools. The study shows that there is little collaboration between schools and ASD-specific support outside school.

Denna uppsats redogör för hur standardsystem utvecklas i utvalda,undersökta miljöer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att delge kunskap omutveckling av standardsystem samt att identifiera och belysa de steg somutvecklingsprocessen innefattar. Studien är genomförd på två fallföretagsom tillverkar standardsystem och har använt kvalitativa intervjuer föratt fånga kunskapen om standardsystemsutveckling.Resultatet av studien är en utvecklingsmodell som beskriver hurutvecklingen av standardsystem går till och vilka faser den innehar samthur de avviker från konventionella livscykelmodeller. Det beskrivs ävenmer ingående vilka faser som ingår i den identifieradeutvecklingsmodellen, Förstudie, Planering, Utveckling, Test,Implementering och support. Hur de fungerar och vilken betydelse dehar för standardsystemet..

The society?s view of pupils with needs of special support in nine-year school has changed over time in Sweden. The teachers? views of the pupils have had an influence of how the special education process is designed. The aim with my paper is to make a comparative study of how special education teachers in rural schools and schools in Stockholm have designed their work with pupils with needs of special support.

According to the theory of elitist democracy civic political participation should be reduced to participation in the democratic elections. This essay examines whether a high rate of institutionalized political participation beyond the elections leads to: (a) that those who are included gets a more favourable treatment at the expense of the common interest, in other words that their self interest threatens the political equality, (b) reduced freedom of action for the politicians and the headmasters, (c) the emergence of vague conditions of responsibility. These hypotheses are examined in an empirical study of user-boards at four schools on three locations in southern Sweden. In these user-boards the parents are in majority and have the right of decision, which has been delegated to them from the local government and the headmaster. The main conclusion is that, based on this empirical investigation, there is no support in any of the hypotheses.

The purpose of this study was to try to develop a better understanding of the process that being a member in a new religious movement might imply, and to find out how the identity of a defector changes from the time upon entering the movement, while they are within the movement and after leaving the movement. We also wanted to examine what kind of help and support would be needed around a defection. The study focuses on identity and our questions were: How does the defector describe him/herself and his/her identity before joining the new religious movement until the period after defecting? What demand for support and help may there be when defecting from new religious movement? The theoretical starting point was The Identity Theory, Structural Role Theory and KASAM. A qualitative method was used and four defectors from new religious movements were interviewed.

Scania Top Team is a competition where the best mechanics in the world are competing against each other. In 2011, the world final was recorded and this material is now used to see which problem solving strategies these top of the line teams are using to solve the realistic problems assembled in front of them. To help them, the mechanics are allowed to use two of Scanias IT-systems: Scania Multi and Scania Diagnose and Programmer 3. This report consists of two parts. The first part is the development of a method to analyze the recorded material.

The fast developments in information and data technology during the recent years have accentuated the need for the business manager to interpret and act on information from the surrounding environment. Today we know little about what information is really used in the unique decision-making. Further, little is known about how information should be designed to fit people with a more intuitive approach to interpreting information. This study is therefore about the difference between peoples approach to interpreting information and how information should be designed to fit those with a more intuitive approach to interpreting information. The application is made to dairy farms in Sweden. The literature review describes the strategic leadership, the decision-making process and the intuitive and the analytic thinking.

The purpose of this study is to examine how young people with experience of running away and/or getting thrown out look upon and understand the phenomenon. Another purpose of thestudy is to examine how the youth evaluate the help and support they did or did not receive at the time of their experience, as well as to examine what the ultimate help and support would be according to them. The study was done in a qualitative approach with the use of focus groups and individual interviews. The results were analyzed through the perspective of the ?sociology of childhood?.

Goal: To describe which evaluation method is used by Swedish retailers to assess a potential retail location and to describe to what extent the retail brand effects this strategic decision. Design: Analysis of ten interviews with companies within five retail sectors in Sweden. Main study: Indication of what methods are used to evaluate a location and how a company's retail brand affects the decision. Results: Retailers use a mix of theoretical methods to evaluate the location attributes and possible profit. Most common among mixtures was an application of the analog method, residual method or the checklist method in combination with a financial assessment.

Today there are commercially available databases with active features, i.e. active mechanisms are available for development of information systems. But the usage of active mechanisms is low in practice. This is due to the insufficient methodological support in analysis and design for developing ECA rule based software. It has been proposed that one of the most suitable ways to tackle this problem is not to develop new methods but to extend existing methodologies.In this thesis an extension of the Object Modeling Technique (OMT) is developed, called OMT-A, which is able to model active rules.

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) is the definition for using BIM in the construction process to simulate and analyse the building. Resulting use of the technology will according to proponents lead to fewer construction errors, a better understanding between stakeholders for the construction project, less communication problems and a smoother construction process. Although BIM has according to researchers a big potential, few companies have succeeded in broad and continues implementation. The study aims to identify the factors affecting the implementation. More precisely identify what factors influencing the decision to adopt VDC and potential barriers in the diffusion process. The empirical findings are based on a case study of NCC Construction Sweden.

This article discusses desirable political representation within the framework of representative democracy. In the desirable representation it is the responsibility of the politician to balance authoritative decision making with responsiveness towards the voters. The article intends to make visible the ethical complexity within representative democracy. Ethically the commission to represent is further complicated because the political parties constitute a central role in the political life and request loyalty of the politician. At the same time the politician is elected by the voters and thus the representative has to balance the dual representation.The politician can meet supplementary but also contradictory norms of action in decision taking.

Objective: The aim of this work is to find out how a number of educators work when giving children support and opportunities for language development.Questions:What have preschool for policy to monitor/assess the children?s language development?What experiences do teachers have of children who need support in language development?How do educator?s regard support from specialised educator?s? Do these efforts support the children to enhance language development?Methods: Qualitative methodology, Interviews with six teachers and two specialised educators from three kindergartens in the municipality.Summary of conclusions: The municipality in which the survey was conducted has a document that provides guide lines on how to work with children?s language development in school and preschool. Pedagogical documentation is a tool that teachers use in nursery school which educators and parents can follow, which shows children?s learning processes and learn strategies. Research shows that through play, music, creative activities, photos, etc.

This thesis studies the concept of balance in the management control systems (MCS) of a small Swedish company within the IT-sector. The aim is to evaluate the importance of balance and dynamics in MCS and investigate which factors affect them. The frameworks used are Simons (1994) four levers of control, and the five-factor model for balance and dynamics by Mundy (2010). The small IT company - the object of the case study - has grown extensively in the last years and needs to develop more formal MCS without losing efficiency and creativity in their fast-moving industry. The case study reveals that balancing MCS is important also in smaller companies with less formal MCS.