This study explores employees subjective experience of their employment relation before and during an outsourcing process and has its starting point in the concept of the psychological contract. Eight employees, in the process of being outsourced, were interviewed. The focus was on ?the employees? individual experiences and stories about the subjective and perceived employment relationship. Data were analyzed using basic qualitative analysis.

Theory of mind involves the ability to take another person?s perspective in thought, emotions and intentions.  There is today a lack of instruments to assess children?s development of Theory of Mind (ToM) in Swedish. ToM is considered by many scientists to be the basis for development of pragmatic competence. The relationship between these two abilities is complex and not fully resolved. Both abilities are important components for the development of social skills.    The purpose of this study was to compare 4 and 5-year olds ToM-ability measured with a Swedish version of Wellman and Liu?s ToM-scale, Sally Anne and Social Emotional Test with estimated pragmatic competence measured with the Children?s Communication Checklist (CCC).

AbstractPurpose/Aim: To describe in-classroom use of mobile phones amongst teenagers.Material/Method: The data was collected through as use of focus groups and field studies.Main results: The main findings confirm the findings of other studies on teens and mobile phones. Teens use their mobile phones for much more than just sending text messages and making calls, there are many different types of localized usages. There is also a strong emotional connection between the device, its content and the user.Keywords: mobile phone, teens, classroom, focus groups, observation, field studies, mobility..

The objective of this thesis is to analyse how masculinity in close relationships is represented through imagery and writing in Världens viktigaste bok and Pojkkön, which are instructive books about sexuality and relationships written for primary school teachers and students. This thesis is based upon theories regarding masculinity and family, and the theorists used are Connell (1996), Prusank (2007), Greif (2009) and Bergnéhr (2008). The methods used are framing and picture analysis to investigate how masculinity in close relationships is represented implicitly and explicitly. The results of this study show that masculinity in close relationships is represented by a man who provides, has an active lifestyle, is outgoing and displays a limited emotional capacity..

For most pupils homework is a natural part of school and their education and there are several providers of homework assistance: the pupil's parents, sibblings, friends, Internet forums, hired private tutoring, non-profit organisations and at times even the pupil's school. This study has investigated the use of the school-based homework assistance programme at the Upper Secondary School of Psychology in Stockholm and why the programme is not more frequently used by its pupils. The school offers homework assistance two hours each Thursday afternoon, with at least two teachers being present to tender for the school's 127 pupils. The cost of the programme has been estimated to approximately 12 500 Swedish kronor per week. Through the main use of a questionnaire given to both the school's students and teachers, as well as an interview with the school's headmaster, this study will show that despite receiving the opportunity few pupils take part of the programme on a regular basis.

This field study examined how elderly and cognitively disabled people used and experienced a social companion robot. The following pages explores the questions: Which are the physical, social and affective qualities during the interaction? The aim was to through observations see how qualities of interaction could activate different forms of behavior. The results show that motion, sound and the eyes together created communicative and emotional changes for users who felt joy and were willing to share the activity with others. The robot stimulated to some extent users to create their own imaginative experiences but often failed to involve user or group for a long time and was also considered too large and heavy to handle..

This thesis investigates young people's (16-21) preferences in reading through a surveyincluding interviews and questionnaires. The groups attitudes towards reading and libraries,their reading and library habits, and to what extent eight libraries had bought the preferredliterature were also examined.Some reports from the 80's were used to find the changes. The result shows that youngstersread and visit libraries somewhat more frequently. Trivial literature is not as dominant, moreteenage-books were read. Popular themes are love, history, reality, fantasy/sf, and detectivestories.

The purpose of this study was to examine experienced family counselors view regarding the concept of conflict avoidance in couple relationships. Twelve family counselors working in different parts of Sweden was interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. They were asked to reflect on the following: their description of the concept of conflict avoidance, the consequences of conflict avoidance in couple relationship, gender differences and their own view on how to create conditions for constructive, therapeutic work in this respect.The result shows that the fear of conflicts, difficulty in expressing needs, different perceptions and expectations together with a difficulty to negotiate about differences, creates a lack of emotional and physical contact together with an absence of dialogue. The consequences of this in the long-term, a majority of the respondents perceived, are feelings of anger, resignation, powerlessness and unhappiness..

SammanfattningSyftet med den här litteraturstudien var att ta reda på vad det finns för möjligheter och svårigheter att producera ål i fångenskap. Med nya hållbara metoder att föda upp konsumtionsål skulle utfiskningen av glasålar minska i världen och man skulle kunna fortsätta äta den goda rökta ålen med gott samvete.Det finns välutvecklade metoder för att inducera könsmognad hos han- och honålar. Detta utförs genom att injicera hormoner och man kan därför fråga sig om det är hållbart i en produktion för framtiden. Efter kläckning av larverna finns flera viktiga faktorer att ta ställning till, så som utfodring och optimal hållning av ålarna. Även ägg- och mjölkekvaliteten spelar en stor roll när det gäller att hålla ålarna vid liv.Abstract The aim with this study was to find out how far we have come to develop reproduction strategies in eel culturing.

The largest project at the AICG lab at Linköping University, Cognitive models for virtual characters, focuses on creating an agent architecture for intelligent, virtual characters. The goal is to create an agent that acts naturally and gives a realistic user experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop and implement an appropriate learning model that fits the existing agent architecture using an agile project methodology. The model developed can be seen as an online unsupervised reinforcement learning model that enhances experiences through reward. The model is based on Maes model where new effects are created depending on whether the agent is fulfilling its goals or not.The model we have developed is based on constant monitoring of the system.

The aim of this study was to describe the meaning of individual care according to Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment programs (NIDCAP) to the early born child. The care around the early born child has shown a big importance. NIDCAP incorporates many care aspects that give structure for an individual tailored care. A fast care planning within three days and night after the birth according to NIDCAP has a positive effect for the cognitive development. The early child has showed that the surroundings environment has an important role for their development.

Storleken och komplexiteten på dagens system och applikationer ökar. Detta leder till att kraven på system och applikationer ökar också eftersom kunderna kräver av dagens system full funktionalitet inom olika typer av distribuerade miljöer. Kunder är inte bara intresserade av funktionerna i systemen och applikationerna, de förväntar sig också att systemet skall vara av god kvalitet. Av dessa skäl är det mycket viktigt att testa system och applikationer för att säkerställa att de uppfyller kundernas förväntningar. Däremot är det inte bara själva mjukvarans kvalitets frågor som organisationer behöver ha i åtanke, en lika viktig del är själva testprocessens kvalitet.

BackgroundPeople with psychiatric problems, despite efforts in recent decades still experience vulnerability. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), where self-harm is common, often live in difficult and complex social relationships because of their illness. Additional knowledge and studies about mental illness, self-harm, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and the therapeutic alliance are needed.Purpose and MethodThis study aims to examine how staff perceive and describe: DBT as a treatment method; the therapeutic alliance and the importance it has for treatment. The study utilises a qualitative approach with a qualitative content analysis method and presents earlier research on DBT and the therapeutic alliance. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews comprising three DBT - teams.

The main aim of this research was to investigate four humour styles, affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humour, and compare these with emotional perception. Forty-eight persons took part in the research, 27 women and 21 men living in the southern part of Sweden. Two humour tests were used: the Humour Scale Questionnaire ? HSQ, with 32 items, and a newly composed video test, assembled after pilot testing from 26 video clips, the Humour Video Questionnaire ? HVQ. To measure perception and interpretation of emotion, the revised version of the ?Reading the Mind in the Eyes? Test was used.

Purpose: To evaluate the management development course held at FöreningsSparbanken in Ronneby during 2000. The evaluation aims to map and describe what effects the course has had on the participants. We will assess to what degree the effects meets the objectives of the course set by the manager of the bank (future management recruitment, leadership, change catalyst, aligning the strive towards a shared organisational objective). Above mentioned also implies that the organisation should be influenced in some regards. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that all of the participants have as a result of the course increased their emotional intelligence in varying levels.