The aim of this review was to examine scientific literature to determine what kind of physiological and psychological benefits derive from human-dog interaction, as well as attempt to uncover a possible mechanism behind these benefits and whether or not they are mutually beneficial. A growing body of research indicates there are physiological and psychological benefits associated with human-dog interaction. Significant cardiovascular benefits have been linked with human-dog interaction, as have lowered blood pressure, cortisol and heart rate. Interaction with dogs is often associated with a feeling of social support and well-being, and dogs also seem to facilitate social interaction between people. Dogs? ability to buffer and reduce stress is also well documented. A strong indication was found regarding a relationship between physical contact and benefits associated with human-dog interaction.

This study is about assessment, in particular formative assessment also called assessment for learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate Swedish and South African primary school teachers? views and ideas about this didactic tool. The motives for this investigation are based on the fact that correct used formative assessment supports pupils? learning process and the fact that there are few researches made about this subject in Sweden.

This major project in Building Engineering has its focus on inquiring into what methods has been used in the planning process of the residential buildingLjusbojen 1. This project has been conducted in cooperation with Kadesjös Ingenjörsbyrå AB, an engineering contractor firm which also acts as the property developer. Initially several different general methods for planning residential buildings have been presented. After the methods from the process of building Ljusbojen 1 has been analyzed compared to the general methods presented in part 1. This shows what the determining factors are during the planning process; factors such as cost, quality, time management, know-how and environmental issues.

This report investigates what attitude private forest owners in the County of Stockholm, Sweden have towards biodiversity landconservation. Private landowners were asked to answer a questionnaire containing questions about there property and there attitude towards biodiversity. The results show that private landowners attitude towards biodiversity is affected by, amongst other things, the size of their property; a larger property have a more negative owner than a smaller property. A landowner that lives on his property has a more negative attitude towards biodiversity than a landowner that?s not living on his property.

The purpose of this study is to investigate which types of cultural capital gives high status in the current field of ?the creative industry? ? a group which could be seen as a new power elite in Gothenburg ? and how people with the ?right? cultural capital is included in the field. The author is invited to several free events within this field, and is investigating the process of inclusion with an auto-ethnographic method. The study will show that the process of inclusion is working quite absolute in the field of the creative industry, and that the audiences are mainly homogenous: masculine, white, middle class, has a taste disposition of the ?eclectic omnivore?, has entrepreneurial knowledges and is an active social media agent.

This paper discusses difficulties and Failures with being a Neutral and objective scientist when writing about a subject which he or she is dedicated too.The purpose with this paper is to study the knowledge process, in other words, is some knowledge harder to see due to the scientist dedication to the subject or is some knowledge constructed due to the scientist dedication to the subject studied, and the process of intermediating, in other words, how to validate the results. Subject which is discussions are scientist objectivity, sociologist dilemmas, and different roles of scientists. The paper also deals with the importance of different perspectives and how ours choice of perspective influences ours research. Ethical state of conditions in interview situations and how we can reflect and criticise our own part and attitudes as an interviewer are also discussed in this paper..

This report describes a system for verification of fingerprints against a previous created template. It describes how and why a fingerprint image must be processed before it can be used to either identify or verify a person. The method is based on special features of a fingerprint, called minutiae points. The whole process from image to matching is described, every step in the process with image enhancement, binarization, thinning and how to find the minutiae points. Also what false minutiae points are, how they arise, why they deteriorate the result, and how to handle them, is discussed.

The degree project aims to gain a deeper understanding of how pedagogues are working with pedagogical documentation, as well as the significance of reflection in the educational work with children.The survey was implemented on two Reggio Emilia-inspired preschools and is based on a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with open questions, where six pedagogues shared how they view the pedagogical documentation.The study is seen from an epistemological perspective. The results show that pedagogues place great emphasis on reflection as a tool for a visibility of children´s learning and development. Pedagogues respond to children´s questions with a question at issue to challenge the children to develop their own hypotheses for problem solving.Keywords, pedagogical documentation, reflection, learning process..

The aim of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, it is the production of a historical and chronological narrative describing the development of the Swedish Red Cross Hospital in Pusan during the years 1950-58. Secondly, it is the investigation of the objectives and aspirations of the organisations and institutions involved and how they affected how the hospital developed during the wartime years and up until the inauguration of the Scandinavian educational hospital, the National Medical Centre, in Seoul. Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 Sweden, a neutral nation, offered to send a contingent for the establishment of a 200 bed mobile field hospital which was to be subjected to the command of the Eighth US Army in Korea. In the end a larger semimobile evacuation hospital was set up in Pusan where both UN soldiers and PoWs were treated, and it came to be known as the Swedish Red Cross Hospital. The decrease in and finally the cessation of hostilities in 1953 opened up for treatment of Korean civilian patients and such work was conducted not only at the Swedish hospital but all over Pusan, though initially it was not formally sanctioned by American and UN authorities.

Social media has changed the way that corporations can communicate with their target groups. Instead of using one?way communications that has been significant for traditional massmarketing, social media has given corporations the possibility to truly interact with their clients and through the interaction build strong relationships. The interaction is an ideal process for corporations to create brand associations and strengthen their brand equity to position their brands in the minds of the consumers. But social media is also a devious medium because everyone are invited to contribute their opinion and news travel fast in social atmosphere, success and crisis can appear fast and out ofnowhere.

Because of among other things the globalization and a focus on core competencies knowledge has become very important for the companies of today, especially for research-intensive companies. The problem is that the companies become more sensitive to how knowledge is created and spread, that is, how organizational knowledge is created. Especially sensitive are companies who are small, young and research-intensive. The purpose with this thesis is to explore how organizational knowledge is created in small, young and research intensive companies.The theory is based on a five-phase model of organizational knowledge creation and four modes of knowledge conversion described by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). These concepts constitute the foundation of the analytical model used in the thesis.The study is carried out by qualitative, highly structured interviews with low standardization.

The amount of electricity is limited in Namibia and the large distance between towns andvillages complicates the energy supply in the country. Therefore an alternative way to provideaccess to appropriate energy technologies is needed. The Government of the Republic ofNamibia (GRN) has adopted an approach of helping off-grid households by establishing EnergyShops in each region in Namibia and these shops are going to sell basic renewable energy andenergy efficient products. The Renewable Energy Efficiency Institute in Namibia (REEEI), theinitiator of this thesis, is coordinating the establishment of these Energy Shops.The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the needs of energy products for the Namibianpopulation and develop an assessment method for the Energy Shop in how to select appropriateenergy products already on the world market. The purpose was also to develop a method forchoosing an Energy Shop.

Organisations tend to focus more and more on product and process development to increase their competitiveness. Several major organisations, among them ABB, have developed models aimed to more effectively control and manage product development processes. ABB is using its standardised model ABB Gate Model for this. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the introduction of ABB Gate Model has affected the outcome of decisions and also the decision-making in the product development process. The study is limited to elucidate the version of ABB Gate Model handling product development projects.

Previous research has found an increased transmission of stock movements in Europe, partly caused by the establishment of institutions as the EU and the EMU. The purpose of this paper is to find the possible impact from the EU and the EMU concerning the evolution of international transmission of stock market movements, on four Scandinavian markets, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The research is based on primary data, existing theories and earlier studies regarding international transmission of stock market movements. The examined method is a VAR (Vector autoregressive model) including a 10x1 vector of variables. Furthermore the tests considered are correlation, granger-causality, variance decomposition and impulse response.

This essay aims to examine how theories within childhood sociology have evolved. The main questions are: Who are the central scientists within the field, what are their objects of study and who are the intended recipients of their work? How can the origin of the theories be described? Which elements are central in the theories and have they changed over time? How can the theories be evaluated based on criteria of valid theories?The study was based on a qualitative literature review. Six scientists' publications were examined, ranging from the time of the theories establishment to present time. In the analysis hermeneutics and theories of scientific development were used to seek explanations.The main results show that the central elements in the theories describe childhood as a social phenomenon and a structural category.