During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils have difficulties with algebra. Also in a report from the National Agency for Education (1999) you can see that the students algebra knowledge get worse and worse. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in algebra during my training to become a qualified teacher I would like to get to know more about this. I also examine why you have to study algebra in upper secondary school.

The aim of this study is to analyse and investigate a rather new field of LIS studies, i.e. link analysis which is a part of webometrics. Webometrics has been described as the quantitative study of web based phenomena drawing on bibliometric or informetric methods. Link analysis has its counterpart in citation analysis within the field of bibliometrics. The questions the study investigates are if webometrics can provide LIS with new knowledge and if there is a place for webometric studies in LIS research.

 This paper evaluates the effect of exchange rate risk on the sum of bilateral trade. To distinguish the effect between different types of countries, two groups are defined: advanced and developing economies. Economic theory on exchange rate risk and trade proposes ambiguous effects of increased volatility. However, the ex ante hypothesis is that developing economies are more sensitive to volatility. Contrarily to the hypothesis, the empirical results suggest that advanced economies would benefit up to twice as much from a removal of exchange rate risk.

This paper investigates a number of components that influence the relationship between consultant and client in a procurement process of ERP. The paper deals with Trust, Commitment, Cooperation and Satisfaction. The problem lies within the fact that consultants do not know how and to what extent the components affect relationship quality. Based on the theories in the areas of procurement, relationship marketing and relationship quality, information has been gathered about how the various authors believe a procurement process works, how they view relationship marketing and how relationship quality is created. The components discussed are trust, commitment, cooperation and satisfaction.

Background: The competition is getting harder between the universities. To reach the high school students and discover which means of contact they prefer and how they perceive student recruitment are important issues in order to succeed in marketing strategies.Purpose: The purpose with our report is to investigate, analyze and compare the student recruitment in three universities and investigate how the high school students want to be contacted. Then we compare to see if they think alike.Method: We have done a qualitative study and chosen to use focus group interviews for the high school students and interviews for the universities to collect our empirical data. We have compared the empirical data and analyzed it with communication processes and marketing communication as theoretical grounds.Result: All of the universities work approximately the same way with their student recruitment. They put a large effort in the Internet and social networks as well as the personal contact.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the up till now somewhat shady definition of legitimacy, and to investigate what happens to this concept when it is transferred from the boundaries of the nation state to the realms of the international arena. By creating a model of legitimacy from which an institution can be evaluated, the purpose of this paper is to investigate what legitimacy is and how important it is for the actors within the international society. The next step involves evaluating what makes the UN a legitimate institution and how its foundation is affected by the blatant disregard of its authority by one of its? most influential members.The theoretical framework consists of a summary of what contemporary analysts? views of legitimacy are, which I have incorporated into my own institutional model of legitimacy. The role of institutions is central to all aspects of this study.

Scania is constantly trying to improve their product development process, the PD-process.The company, along with others, is optimizing their development process in order to gainadvantage in terms of shorter lead times and larger market shares. For this to happen, a wellorganized process is required.The PD-process is divided into three different phases that are linked together by a hand-overprocedure. Scania Bus has experienced problems that stem from a lack of hand-over routines,and as a result the product development process has been slowed down. This has a number ofconsequences, one of them being the complication of new project initiations.The main purpose of this master thesis was to review the hand-over procedure. Within thestudy the project directive was also to be examined, and a recommendation of how the start ofa new project could be made easier was included.To begin with, a detailed literature study was conducted with the intention of obtaining thebasic theoretical knowledge needed for this study.

The main aim of this thesis is to introduce a normative perspective to surveillance studies. I examine how the use of videocameras or CCTV-systems can create a social sorting and, then, try to answer why it ought to be reconstructed based on a normative study.For the empirical analysis I use Foucaults theory about the panopticon, maintained by the psychological subjection of the common citizen in the modern world, together with Lianos theory of a more socio-cultural surveillance in the post-modern world. The empirical examination is, furthermore, guided by a theory that describes the construction of the stranger, which today, is not explicitly excluded, because everyone is a stranger in some way, but rather depicted as the other due to institutionalization.The post-modern society today can no longer be built upon a common or divine moral or norm. Thus, I have chosen a normative method, using a deliberative democracy derived from Habermas, focusing on the communicative practice, that can engage and include every citizen in a democratic process. This is necessary for both deciding whether videocameras should be installed and whom and why some should be under surveillance ? to avoid a social sorting that both can constitute and undermine social trust and increase the gap between the governing and the governed..

This thesis intends to analyse conditions for a successful implementation of consociational democracy, as a democratic model in Afghanistan. The lack of critical reviews regarding the democratisation-process in Afghanistan initiated the purpose of this study.Lijpharts democracy model was used as the basis in the comparative study. Along with empirical evidence regarding how the complex process of democracy in Afghanistan is progressing, the study investigated whether the identified conditions occurred or not.The choice of which democracy model to use can be crucial for the democratic possibilities to even survive and become established in conflict-affected communities. The principle of consociational democracy is that it is an empirically based normative model that aims to organise the state in a way that works against the risks of majority domination and oppression against the minority.The empirical case study revealed that a majority of the conditions were not met, which then can counteract the possibilities for consociational democracy in Afghanistan. The study has critically examined the prospects for the success of consociational democracy in Afghanistan, and it can be assessed that there is a limited probability for a successful applying of this model..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study the information needs of the homeless. The main focus is to investigate what kind of information needs that are to be found among the homeless and also how information is exchanged and shared by the group. Another aspect of our study includes the sources that are used to fulfil these information needs. The homeless use of the library, as one of these sources, is also examined.

Today?s companies offer their products and services through multiple distribution channels in an increasing extent, in order to reach bigger markets and more customers. Multiple channels result in an increased risk for channel conflict.This essay is an exploratory and descriptive study with the purpose to explore some companies? channel conflicts on the basis of sales commission and price differences. A case study has been made at two different companies and the empirical material has been collected with qualitative interviews.We found more channel conflicts in the company that uses sales commissions than in the company that doesn?t.

Marketing is a broad subject with many different areas. Part of the marketing that has been of great importance is the 4P:s also known as the marketing mix. Marketing mix is included in one of the traditional marketing approaches. In recent years there have been some changes and have begun looking at new ways of looking at marketing. One of the ways is entrepreneurial marketing to the effect that the company tries to use its resources optimally.

The object of this paper is to examine the marketing of PUNKTmedis, a youth library. In order to do so we have looked at two different perspectives; how the library has marketed itself towards its target group, and how young people perceive what PUNKTmedis has to offer. The thesis? foundation is a case study. Since the question at hand concerns the library?s intentions with and execution of its marketing efforts, as well as the target group?s opinion of them, the empirical data is based partially on an interview with the head of marketing at PUNKTmedis, and partially on a target group questionnaire.

Purpose: The aim of the thesis is to identify principles of valuation and to reach a solution for how Statens järnvägar can present their leased railroad vehicles in the future.Methodology: The authors have done a case study through a qualitative approach. Interviews have been done with Statens järnvägar, Näringsdepartementet and Riksrevisionen. Annual reports from Banverket and Luftfartsverket have been studied.Theoretical perspectives: The regulations that rule the authorities are a base for the study.Earlier researches done within the subject are presented in this section.Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation of this study consists of primary- and secondary data. The primary data is collected from the interviews that have been done, whilst the secondary data is composed of annual reports, regulations and various other documents.Conclusions: The authors have come to the conclusion that the method of valuation that Statens järnvägar choose, depends a lot on the vehicles hypothetical future. It is difficult to say that only one of the methods would be the correct one..

Democracy is said to uphold the dearest values and be the most moral system. But it cannot be characterized as a rigid "syste" but a continuously changing political framework, under which aims and values can be fulfilled - and replaced.The increasingly diverse and ever-changing environment of contemporary democracies forces change upon the systems' natural evolution, which makes their future features uncertain and unforeseeable. A powerful change-force doctrine does however claim change is mainly (or merely) caused by the power of ideas; the elite power over ideas can thus provide a natural foundation for the analysis of the direction of development for democracy. This study aims to provide such a foundation by reconstructing empirical and normative descriptions of democracy at two certain points in time, following extensive government studies.As a tool for analysis, this study identifies values of substantial and procedural character central to democracy theory and discourse. It further creates ideal types of democracy based on these values, to which the nature of democracy is measured.