European cities of today are under the challenge to find ways to stay competitive and flourish in a rapidly changing world, where the old patterns of centrality and periphery not necessarily holds true. New and improved communication networks, a changed political geography in Europe, and the globalisation of not only the financial and industrial markets but also to a certain extent the globalisation of people, have all led to great challenges for cities and regions.In a changed spatial reality the classic monocentric models are challenged by newer models of urbanisation. The polycentric urban region is one such model which has been used to describe urban regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands and the Rhein-Ruhr region in Germany. Regions which lack the single dominant central city of the monocentric models of old, and instead shows a high degree of more equal-sized and sometimes more specialised cities in regional cooperation. The polycentric urban region is in that aspect a possible model for how other urbanised regions in Europe may act to be able to position themselves as attractive urban regions and regional hubs in the European urban network.Polycentric urban regions are not a universal solution, though.

The purpose of this bachelor?s thesis is to examine how public librarians and people engaged in sports associations think of the possibility of collaboration between their organizations regarding children and youth and furthermore how they think this collaboration and collaboration in general would or should be practiced. This is done in the light of the increasing necessity of collaboration in today?s information society as well as the view that reading and sports could make a good match. Focus is placed on the libraries? perspective and also on the respondents? perceptions and thoughts.

Svenska Kraftnät is (together with the other transmission system operators of the Nordic power system) responsible for keeping balance between the generated and demanded power in the Nordic power system. Spontaneous load variations and system disturbances, however, lead to power imbalance followed by frequency variations. The frequency deviations can be limited to an acceptable level by the spinning reserve, mainly by hydro power control. But there are also other system properties which have a great influence on the frequency and system stability. The frequency and voltage dependence of the loads have a direct influence on the power balance.

As a result of an increased consumption, waste volumes has grown steadily throughout the 1900s, and this puts great demands on an efficient and ecological sustainable waste management on both local and national level. In order to evaluate collection and disposal of household waste, a large number of Sweden´s municipalities are using waste analyses. The overall aim of this study has been to summarize and assess results from waste analyses executed in Härjedalen´s municipality during the years 2007-2011.The evaluation has given information about the household waste´s composition, quantity and change in time. The report´s objective has been to create a basis which the municipality can use in planning of future information efforts and other measures, and give some proposals on how these can be designed and targeted. Therefore, the report also highlights research on motivations factors that affects environmentally conscious behavior such as recycling, and how different instruments like information can be used to promote this.

The field rehabilitation in veterinary medicine has expanded over the past ten years. Animalswith disorders in the musculoskeletal system are often treated. The methods used lacksufficient scientific documentation; however claim to affect the animal's function in a positiveway. In order to investigate the efficacy of different rehabilitation modalities, it is important touse validated evaluation tolls. Therefore, a literature study on pain, pain-scales and functionaltest was performed together a pilot study on a functional test.The aim of the present pilot-study was to investigate a functional test, "Bioarth functionalevaluation scale", used in veterinary medicine.

Title: How does the buying decision process really function within e-commerce? - A qualitative study of consumer behavior when they consume on Internet.Institution: School of Economics, Linnaeus University, Va?xjo?.Course code: 2FE16E.Authors: Sara Hja?rne, Mathilda Perem, Ewelina Wallin.Tutor: Dan Halvarsson.Examiner: A?sa Devine.Key words: Buying decision process, purchase decision process need recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase decision, postpurchase behavior, consumer decision making, E-commerce, E- commerce channels, online shopping, online purchase, e-retail, internet shopping, electronic shopping, consumer behavior, online appereal shopping, social media, decision making, online retailing, website design, customer satisfaction, webshopping, perceived risk, convinience, price, online consumption behavior.Background: Buying decision process is a model that marketers use to get a better understanding of their customers and their behavior when purchasing a product. This process consists of five different steps; need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and evaluation. Buying decision process has for a long time been an accepted model but scientists argue that the introduction of Internet as a channel for consumption has changed this process. The Internet has also led to a change of power in which customers today have greater influence, which greatly affects the buying decision process in e-commercePurpose: The purpose is to explore how consumers perceive their behavior when they consume through e-commerce.Research questions:How do consumers perceive the buying decision process they experience when they consume through e-commerce?How do consumers perceive different factors that are important to them when they consume through e-commerce?Methodology: Qualitative study, cross-sectional design, semi-structured interviews.Conclusion: This thesis shows that the traditional model of the buying decision process is not consistent with consumers' perception of how they are undergoing the process when applied to an e-commerce context.

The purpose of this master thesis was to study the water system for mechanically cleaned water at Skärblacka mill, in order to find and evaluate possibilities of using energy more efficiently. The thesis also includes an evaluation of the software tool ?Pumpanalys?Skärblacka mill produces pulp and paper. The large amount of water required is cleaned mechanically through filters and called mechanically cleaned water (MR0). The MR0 water is pumped out to the factory by four crude water pumps.

Evaluations of open Ditch status and function, with an assessment of suitability of a conversion to a two stage ditch as a low maintenance alternative. To illustrate Swedish drainage problems this work focused on two agricultural drainage associations assessed in detail with a new method called MADRAS (Minnesota Agricultural Ditch Reach Assessment for Stability). With the assessment of the MADRAS method estimates were made to conclude the ditches operating problems. This was made through measurements of sediment depths, mass bank failures etc. in order to quantify ditch problems and propose practical actions for improved ditch stability and water quality. The MADRAS surveys were conducted in two main ditches that drains 2900 hectares of land on the northern shores of Mälaren. In the study measurements of the ditch cross-sections were also conducted to compare actual profiles with the original map profiles. The evaluation showed that parts of the studied ditch sections were operatively poor; main reason was mass bank failure, undercut channel banks, sediment aggregations and narrowed ditches. The profile survey shows that a majority of the profiles 80 % has sediment accumulations there remains only 64 % of the original profile from the map.

The main purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how high school students evaluate the quality of the information available on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. By doing quantitative research based on questionnaires we expected to find that the means for judging that students use in this situation are most frequently based on a text?s intrinsic qualities in the point of view of its content. It was also our presupposition that 18 and 19 year old high school graduates have received some education in information research and authoritative sources on the Internet.

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school libraries within the compulsory school?s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:? What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?? What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?? What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an application for mobile phones that simplifies communication. The company Doberman wanted to look at possibilities to develop such an application that uses Bluetooth? technol-ogy to communicate in ad-hoc networks. The aim has been an application to run on mobile phones in which you can send messages and files to other devices and also add a user profile with personal information to share with others. The communication will take place in temporary networks created when Bluetooth enabled devices is in range of each other.The market for mobile phones has grown rapidly over the past years and is still growing.

The Swedish Warmblood riding horse is a popular horse for sport in Sweden, and the breeding goal is to produce competitive horses in both show jumping and dressage. The breed has its origin in native Swedish cavalry horses but has been highly influenced by foreign stallions throughout the years. Breeding values are estimated based on the results from young horse field test, which are held for 3- or 4-year old horses, and competition data. The young horse field tests are highly correlated with later performances in competition. The total proportion of horses with own observations to include in the genetic evaluation are slightly under 50 %, and in most cases their pedigrees are known.

In a global economy it is important to understand what project management is and how it functions in a contemporary company. This report includes an empirical case study of a project flow, which was conducted in the department Packaging Concept (PC) which is a part of Stora Enso. As all of PC´s customer enquiries are unique and must be considered an individual project, PC continuously works in projects. An analysis of the project flow was conducted based on interviews at and visits to PC as well as relevant documents distributed by the department. The report gives an understanding and analysis of how PC works in projects.

The purpose of this essay is to describe the organization of the Swedish Animal WelfareAgency during the time it was in operation. The Swedish Animal Welfare Agency was established in 2005 by the government who saw it as necessary in order to strengthen the protection of cruelty to animals in Sweden. However, the agency was shut down already in2007 and its responsibilities as an agency was moved back to the government and the department of agriculture. During its time in operation, the Swedish Animal Welfare Agency, received much criticism, among other things because of its interpretations of the law which were seen as too focused on details and thus ?bureaucratic?.

This degree project deals with creating an Android application for managing representation orders placed in stores as well as evaluating Androids usage as a platform for that line of work. The evaluation will be based on tests of the application on an Android phone together with a survey consisting of written questions and a practical test of the application..