The main aim of the thesis is, first, to present a theoretical and methodological perspective for the study of postmodern theory in historiography; second, to discuss and evaluate earlier research on the subject; and third, to show that historians must be more self-reflexive about their explicit as well as implicit theoretical and philosphical premises. My theoretical and methodological inspiration comes mainly from three directions: first, the discourse analytic theory propagated by the political theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe; second, concepts from Lacanian psychoanalysis as propagated by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek; and, finally, the later Ludwig Wittgensteins theory of language.Using this perspective a minor case study is made based on five dissertations in history at Lund University from 1999 to 2006 as source material. This in order to indicate a strong influence of postmodern theory in Swedish historiography. It is further argued that it is legitimate to speak of one postmodernism, not in spite, but because of the fact that postmodernism is a semantically highly paradoxical, contradictory and unstable phenomenon. The main results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: (i) earlier research on the subject is simplified and unreflected and must be abandoned, because (ii) postmodernism seen as a discursive whole, i.e.

This study examines how the media reports on the Pride Festival in Stockholm and what news topics and themes it prioritizes. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the media coverage of Pride highlights political questions related to social and societal problems. One of the main focuses of the study is on how the media covers male and female homosexuality. The newspapers examined are the tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen and the respected dailies Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. The study extends over three periods: 19-07-2010 to 07-08-2010, 25-07-2011 to 14-08-2011, and 24-07-2012 to 11-08-2012.Several key theories and themes frame the study.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka SPIRA-projektets deltagares uppfattningar om motivation och uppfattningar om projektets eventuella påverkan på motivationen. Samt uppfattningar hos några tidigare deltagare i projektet. SPIRA-projektets syfte är att stärka kompetensen hos sina deltagare och målgruppen är individer som varit arbetslösa i ett år eller mer, alternativt sjukskrivna i minst sex månader. Tidigare forskning inom arbetslöshet och motivation tyder på att de individer som drivs av en motivation med en hög grad autonomi har en större chans att vara lyckosamma. De anses även vara mer ihärdiga i sitt arbetssökande och har ett högre välmående än de som drivs av motivation med en låg grad autonomi.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to investigate how a local authority acts when anunexpected event occur. It´s done with a basis in two crisis communicationstheories; Coombs SCCT theory and Gilpin and Murphys complexity theory,which largely are each other?s opposites. To conduct the study, a case studyof the floods that hit Kristinehamn in the summer of 2014 was carried out,which gave us a good opportunity the achieve the aim of the study. Themethod used was qualitative research interviews.

This report describes an bachelor thesis work which is performed in cooperation with SVIA that develops and sells automation solutions for the manufacturing industry. The thesis purpose was to evaluate the machine FeedLine to find opportunities for improvement in the product?s design that could lead to more standardization and thus improving the efficiency of manufacturing and assembly.Based on these basic issues suggestions for improvements were developed:How can the design of FeedLine be improved to facilitate the assembly?Can more standardization be imposed on FeedLine?s design to enable more stocking of standard components?An initial pre-study was conducted to evaluate FeedLine?s to find opportunities for improvement in its overall design. During the pre-study staff at SVIA and two of its clients was interviewed. Based on information gathered during the interviews and observations by the authors improvements was amendments.

In this essay I have described ecocriticism as a theory with several different subfields that are inspired by a cross-disciplinary approach, such as green culture studies, ecofeminism, and postcolonial ecocriticism. After a short summary of the background of ecocritical studies I analyze the various subfields, take a closer look at their contents and present various examples of ecocritical thinking. A presentation of the commonly used concepts within the discipline and some reflections on these is followed by my final discussion, where I state that even though ecocriticism is a relatively new theory and the concept doesn?t have a clear definition as yet, it is in my view a useful tool for analysis and can with time make valuable contributions to literary studies, not least by introducing a number of new perspectives..

Background:The value a consumer connect with a certain brand and its design differ from person to person. This value ought to be investigated. Why does people buy expensive things when there are cheaper alternatives? Is it brand equity and/or the perception of a brand?s value that make a difference? People strive to show themselves and to perform through products, which makes it interesting to see to the perceived value of design.Tweens is a group of consumers that are easily influenced to consume products by their surrounding. To choose clothes, shoes and other products after what your surrounding?s demand, is a way of adapting yourself to society.

Detta arbetets syfte är att klargöra om ett företag kan få sin lönsamhet ökad genom att låta kunderna påverka produktdesign eller genom att anpassa produktdesign till produktionskrav. För att kunna dra slutsatser utifrån problemformuleringen har intervjuer genomförts i fyra företag som agerar i olika branscher och tillverkar produkter där designen spelar relativt stor roll.Slutsatserna är i stort sett att företagen idag inte har användarorienterad design, men allting tyder på att detta kommer att ändras i framtiden. Konkurrensen har blivit allt hårdare och nya krav på tilltalande design tillkommer hela tiden. Tack vare användarorienterad design skulle ett företag kunna öka sin lönsamhet på lång sikt, men det skulle troligtvis ta några år innan dess, och företaget skulle tvingas arbeta irrationellt under denna period.Genom att helt anpassa produktdesign till produktionskrav skulle ett företag kunna öka sin lönsamhet och därmed tillverka fler kvalitetsprodukter och ha nöjda kunder..

This degree project has been carried out by Carolina Rapp and Jenny Tauson, students at Innovation and Design Engineer program at the Faculty of Technology and science at Karlstad University. The project was carried during Spring of 2009 and took 15 weeks of full time work.  Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an Austria/Switzerland corporate group and its associated company Doppelmayr Scandinavia lies in Sunne, Sweden. Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is the world quality and technology leader in ropeway engineering. The degree project goal was to develop a new shaping of a surface lift. There are two kinds of surface lifts, platter and T-bars. The two kinds of surface lifts have some variation in design but only minor differences.

The aim of this thesis is to study a number of standards and theories, from the two research areas human-computer interaction and psychology, about how a graphical user interface (GUI) should be composed in order to facilitate interaction between humans and computers. Special emphasis is put on how the GUI should take into consideration the strengths and limitations of human cognition and perception. A study of three web catalogues shows how these theories appear when concretised. The following questions are answered in this thesis:What guidelines and styleguides can be found that specify the design of a user-friendly GUI?How do a few library catalogues on the web match a selection of these design principles?The guidelines are extracted from literature concerning human-computer interaction, psychology, automated library systems and web design.

Patientövervakning och rondmöten är centrala aktiviteter i all sjukvård. Teknik som tagits fram för patientövervakning och rondmöten är relativt underutvecklad vad gäller överblick och mötesstöd. En fallstudie genomfördes med två observationer och en fokusgruppintervju på intensivvårdskliniken vid Linköpings universitetssjukhus. Syftet med fallstudien var att ta fram grundläggande informationskrav för att stödja sjukvårdspersonal vid möten och ronder i en intensivvårdssituation. Målet var att utveckla en övergripande design för ett digitalt arbetsbord.

SUMMARYThe Swedish laws of animal welfare emphasize the social needs of the horse but nothing is said about how to fulfill this. Though there are few studies done in this subject it can be difficult to understand if the needs are fulfilled. The purpose of this study was to learn more about the horse?s social needs in box stable and to increase other people?s knowledge and understanding of the horse behavior to increase the welfare of the stabled horse. The questions where: How does the horse choose to place itself depending on what horse is next to it? How many attempts does the horse do to take contact and nose contact with the horse next to it? How does the box design affect the horse behavior?22Eight horses were videotaped during 24 nights.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how the image of the gambler is described by studying a report published by Folkhälsoinstituet [FHI] and a number of chosen articles from the Swedish Evening Press. Discourse theory has been used both as theory, together with social constructionism, and as a research method. The main conclusions of the study are that three different discourses can be identified: the normal gambler, the professional gambler and the problem gambler. The image of the problem gambler is described as a deviant and problematic minority characterized by loss of control, irrational thoughts and dissociative behaviour. The construction of the problem gambler fills three possible purposes for the state: As a solvable problem to handle criticism against negative consequences of gambling, as an argument to avoid competition on the market and as an individual characterized by loss of control in order to legitimize and make the construction of the normal gambler possible..

The study examines the meaning of having a dog in the workplace of personnel who work with therapy. The purpose was to examine the personnel?s view of dogs in their work envi-ronment. The study uses two theories. One is ?psychosocial work environment? and the other theory used is ?symbolic interactionism?.

This study has been conducted on behalf of Vectura Consulting AB with the purpose to examine how different actors perceive the dimensions of sustainability and sustainable construction. The purpose is also to provide an understanding of existing barriers and opportunities for sustainable construction within the industry and exemplify with different directions for the actors in order to develop sustainability. The study has approach the research problem by using systems theory, developed by Checkland, to identify the relevant system. Other systems theories has been used as an theoretical framework in order to identify barriers and opportunities, which in this study are based on Hughes?s theory about reverse salients and salients.