In February 2005, a collection predominantly containing medieval ballads was found in the library of Växjö. The collectors were mainly George Stephens, originally from Scotland, and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, both active in Småland in the nineteenth century. In connection with an intital inventory of the material, Magnus Gustafsson, ethnomusicologist at Smålands Musikarkiv, marked ballads of uncertain origin with a question mark.The purpose of this essay is to investigate 22 of these marked ballads. To be able to compare them with other material we have developed a method to identify differences. By means of the method both the text and the melody are compared and in addition the differences in terms of quality and quantity are assessed.

As the number of people owning a smartphone rapidly increases so too does the opportunity for various researchers to exploit this technology. The possibility to recruit people to participate in research studies improves and with it the chance to get more diversified target groups in terms of age, socio-economic status, geographical location, etc.In this essay, I argue that the opportunities smartphones offer in terms of collecting research material is vastly underestimated in several areas, bearing in mind the advantages they present. In order to support my argument, I shall present a case study carried out in the research area of happiness ? an area where the use of smartphones has provided significant opportunities for research.In order to gather the advantages and disadvantages of this method of study from the participants? perspective, I have followed a happiness research study which is a collaboration between Umeå University and The University of Stockholm. I have interviewed the participants of this study in order to assess the advantages and opportunities that smartphones offer in research programs.Overall, the participants? opinion of this research method was generally positive and it was considered to be quite easy to participate in the study and respond to the questions asked.

This thesis has been performed at the system development company Verendus System AB, together with the home care company Basic Care Unit (BCU).The thesis has consisted of developing a web based informationsystem for BCU in which they can administrate their business. At the time of writing this thesis, BCU was using a windows-application to administrate their activities, which was both costly aswell as resulting in an unnecessary burden. The aim the thesis has thus been to create a platform-independent information system that simplifies and streamlines BCUs work by being user-friendly aswell as imposing some simplifying features.The students has been developing the system by the help of a work method they themselves developed. The method consisted of working in several iterations that each had several milestones. The method resulted in the students knowing easily when each iteration was finished or not.The thesis resulted in a working platform independent prototype.

The Röhsska museum in Gothenburg has recently launched a new work method, Backstage, that is studied and paralleled to the museums permanent exhibition on Japanese design. In Backstage the museums routine work is executed in full view of the museums visitors in an exhibition area. The study has focused on the museums intentions and the visitors? interpretations in Backstage and Japanese design, as well as the staff?s experience of the work method?s public aspects. The study?s empirical material has been collected through interviews with the museum staff as well as observations and interviews with visitors in both Backstage and Japanese design.

Food is widely consumed and in 2011 an average American devoured approximately one ton of food. The production of these goods requires large amounts of energy and contributes to 22-31 % of all greenhouse gas emissions occurring in Europe. More than one third of the produced food is discarded instead of consumed, and food waste make up about 30 % of the waste generated by households. 60 % of this food waste could be avoided if the eatables were handled in a better way.Avoidable food waste arises partly because residues from food are not taken care of, and because the food is not stored in a way that optimise its durability. Residues arises part- ly because of the contradictory and complex demands of everyday life and are, because of our busy lifestyle, difficult to avoid.

This two years master?s thesis is a review and exploration of the Swedish debate concerning children?s literature from the 19th century to the present, as well as the evaluation and analysis of four adaptations of the tale Red Riding Hood. The aims are to identify how ideas and values regarding the role of children?s literature in society have developed over time and to contribute with a knowledge base for continued reflection and discussion on the subject of children?s reading and mediation of children?s literature in public libraries.The theory and method used in the thesis, is primarily based on the discourse analysis of Michel Foucault. I have identified four main discourses: the educational discourse, the liberation discourse, the politicized dis- course and the popular discourse.

Delineation of recharge areas for aquifers is performed in the groundwater mapping process at the Swedish geological survey, SGU. This work is time consuming and performed manually. It is therefore desirable to develop a more general and repeatable method for defining recharge areas for aquifers.The purpose of this study was to investigate two other possible methods to delineate recharge areas for aquifers. The first method was to examine the possibility of using the topography of the bedrock to define the recharge areas for aquifers. To enable this, a method for generating the topography of the bedrock was developed.

Companies that invest in e-learning have different expectations regarding the outcome of the investment. According to literature and articles it is common that companies see reduction of costs as the primary benefit with e-learning. Therefore we ask ourselves the question if companies have attained the expected benefit of the investment in e-learning and to what extent cost reduction have been a determining factor in the investments? The purpose of the thesis is to examine if companies that invest in e-learning have attained the expected benefits. We also want to examine what the reason for investing in e-learning is and if cost reduction is the primary reason for investing. The study is founded on a qualitative method that is based on a case study in eight companies.

Title: What are you doing - A study in the Swedish Armed Forces marketingAuthors: Johanna Hillforth & Linda OlanderTutor: Josef PallasPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the communicativefunctions as the Swedish Armed Forces uses in its marketing communications.Method and material: The used method in this study is a qualitativesemiotic content analysis, and the material analyzed is five ads from five oftheir latest advertising campaigns.Main results: The results of the study have shown that the Swedish ArmedForces primarily uses three of the four communicative functions in theircommunication, by being of informative, expressive and affecting nature..

Problem The culture sector is characterized by qualitative goals which raise questions such as how do you measure culture and what is ?good? culture? Both the goals and the measurements tend to result in subjective judgments, which according to the theory make result control inefficient. Yet, result control is frequently used in the culture sector; which leads up to our research question: What characterizes the problems of result control in the culture sector?Purpose The aim of this study is to make a survey of how the Gothenburg Opera works with result control and follow-up. By defining how it tackles the different problems, which could arise with result control in a non-profit organisation, we aim to map how the problems regarding result control are characterized in the Gothenburg Opera.

Photodynamic therapy is a relatively new treatment for superficial squamous cell carcinoma in cats. There are no publications indicating that the method is being used in veterinary practice in Sweden at the present time. The method uses the interaction between a photosensitive agent which has been administered to the tumor area, light of a wavelength that can be absorbed by the photosensitiser and the presence of oxygen. In this study photodynamic treatments were performed at the Queen?s Veterinary School Hopital of Cambridge University between 1998 and 2002.

We where asked to write a webapplication, with similar functionalityas an existing desktop application. The application can todayrecord sounds from a person, mix it together at the optimal place withanother, similar sound and play back the result.The application used mathematical calculation that the developerswhere not familiar with, therefore it was decided to focus on the partsthat involved recording and playing sound, to pave the way for anyfuture implementation.The follwing prototypes where implemneted:1. Read a sound clip from a file.2. Splicing of two sound clips at different points in the clips.3. Generate the sound of a guitar.The result of this evaluation is that web browsers today are notready for this type of application, but that there is potetial as soonas W3C have standardised the use of a microphone as a source to theexisting DSP functions..

Background: A large number of companies works as a link between manufacturers and final users. These companies buys and stores goods to be able to deliver when a need comes up later in the chain. The storage could have a negative effect on profitability and therefore places great demands on the management control systems. ABC as a method has been used with some success in manufacturing for over ten years. In wholesale companies the method is not frequently used.

Allt större och större andel företag väljer att presentera och förmedla varor och tjänster via e-handel. En viktig aspekt vid e-handel är att kunden känner förtroende för e-handelsapplikationen och företaget. Denna rapport redogör för vilken inverkan multimediala inslag har för förtroendet av en e-handelsapplikation, vid initialt användande. En undersökning har genomförts med hjälp av en kooperativ utvärdering av fyra e-handelsapplikationer vilka innehåller olika typer av multimediala inslag har.Resultatet av undersökningen visar att multimediala inslag inverkar positivt på förtroendet för e-handelsapplikationer. Däremot finns indikationer på att för hög grad av multimedialt inslag inverkar negativt på förtroendet för e-handelsapplikationer..

This is a report on the development and implementation of the web shop ?Urballa Ur?, a web application developed by nine students at Linköping university. The report illustrates the methodology and process with intention to answer the question ?How can an online watch store be implemented to increase sales??. During the process the agile method scrum has been used as a working method.