The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of different types of queries in the AltaVista query-based search engine. Thirty information needs have been collected from an ask-a-question service on the World Wide Web, which means that they are based on real users information needs. This is done to avoid partiality in the study. The author has invented different types of queries for each and every one of the information needs in accordance with the search syntax available for AltaVista. The types used are Boolean expressions, queries including proximity operators, phrases and queries directed towards a specific field.

The purpose of this essay is to examine sfi (Swedish for immigrants), which is an ingrational-political tool with objective of teaching immigrants to read and write in Swedish. With the use of critical discourse analysis we examine the discursive practices within sfi. We also examine our methodological and theoretical approaches, and our application of them. Our research questions are as follows:? How are the discursive usage of ?person centered? and ?society centered? expressions being used?? How well does our methodological and theoretical resources work?In our theoretical viewpoint we use ?post colonial theory?, which is a perspective concerned with global power relations seen from a historical perspective.

Adoptive parents need to be able to reflect on the interaction with the child, both from the perspective of their own relational experience with the child and from the perspective of the previous experience of the child. This essay explores five adoptive parent´s thoughts and feelings about their children?s background. It also looks into how they think that the children?s background influences their way of expressing their needs and how this makes the parents feel.

Aggression is a normal part of a dog?s behaviour repertoire and has always been an evolutionary relevant behaviour. Even if aggression in some contexts is relevant, it is one of the most common problem behaviour reported by dog owners. It has been discussed if some breeds are more likely to show aggression and therefore should be banned. On the 1st of January 2008 a new act was enforced by the Swedish government giving the police force greater authority in decisions to apprehend and euthanize dogs if they after an appropriate evaluation of the dog?s temperament think it is necessary.

The persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority population in southwestern Burma has come to the fore in recent years. The aim of this study is to first analyse the degree and respects of biopolitical control in the case of political oppression. Secondly, the aim is to compare the similarities and differences when it comes to the causes, mechanisms and expressions of the two theoretical starting points in the case.Giorgio Agamben´s biopolitical theory, which tries to reconnect state control over life and death with modernity, forms the basis of the analysis. Will Kymlicka´s liberal theory on minority rights serves as a theoretical comparison tool. Methodological starting points to the specific bilateral purpose will be both of the textual and discursive analytical tradition.

The aim of the essay is to explore how so called ?safe spaces? are built, and the part that creativity can play in this construction. The essay also explores the duality of idea-based social work that at the same time strives to support vulnerable groups and strives to make social and political changes. The essay has its empirical base in the RFSL Ungdom project ?Tusen bilder, tusen ord? (A thousand pictures, a thousand words).

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the ways in which the constructions of heterosexuality and gender in three Disney movies about princesses affect the power relations between men and women in the movies, and how discourses on gender and heterosexuality have changed over time. Research questions were:How do characters in the movies talk about gender and heterosexuality?How does the interplay between gender and heterosexuality affect the power relations between men and women in the movies?What are the likenesses and differences between movies from different time periods?Discourses were mapped out using a model based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe?s political theories. These discourses were then analyzed with a theoretical framework consisting of Yvonne Hirdman?s concept of gender system and gender contracts, Judith Butler?s view on the heterosexual matrix and an understanding of power relations based on Michel Foucault.

ABSTRACT Introduction: This study is based on Aantonovskys SOC-theory; Sense of Coherence. SOC can be described as a theory which describes how a person experience her existence and the theory is based on three key expressions; comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Aim: The aim of the study is to examine a group of elderly (>80 years) men and women who live alone to investigate how many percent of the group that estimate a high value of SOC. The study aims to investigate which factors contribute to the fact that a person achieve a high value of SOC and increase the understanding about how these factors concretely can appear in a persons life. Methods: Questionnaire (SOC scale) and Interviews.

Tobii Technology AB is a global leading company in eye tracking. The technology is a part of acomputer screen called an eye tracker. It enables computers to follow eye movement whichfurther make it possible to control the computer by only using your eyes.The mission was to develop an arcade game for eye controlled games that Tobii can use in theirmarketing or as a tool when doing researches about the interest in the technology amongst gamecompanies. The product realization involved designing an innovative, functional and futuristiccase which gathered the existing hardware and software to build the final prototype. In order toattract users it was important to focus on the visual expressions.Initially, the project started off with an information retrieval which contained interviews, fieldstudies, tests and literature studies.

The way in which media discusses religion has changed over time. Due to the separation of state and church in 2000, the Swedish state to a lesser extent legitimizes its political ruling with references to religious concepts. As a result, a higher tolerance towards religious minorities can be said to have taken place. This is an ambiguous change however, where critique raised towards religious practices and expressions of minorities also occurs to a higher extent. The public debate is in large part conducted through the media, but is also seen to be produced and reproduced through the media?s discourse.

This thesis evaluates the user board of the elememtary school in Veberöd, Sweden. In this process an evaluation model is developed. The model itself gets evaluated in a meta-evaluation to improve the model for future use.The starting point of the evaluation is the deliberative democracy theory. Although Sweden is a representative democracy an official desire exists to have a democracy with deliberative qualities. The evaluation model is constructed to fit this context and is therefore, not only, set out from classical goal-based evaluation but also from deliberative democratic evaluation.

  Purpose/Aim: To achieve a deeper knowledge and better understanding of how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama use rhetoric figures and body language to convince the people that they are the individual who should be elected as the democratic nominee and if and in which way Internets characteristics take practical expressions in the supply of videos on YouTube and Barack Obamas and Hillary Clintons official websites.Material/Method: Quantitative content analysisMain results: Hillary Clintons and Barack Obamas ability to spread out exactly the information they want on their official websites takes expression in form of videos with only positive information. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama try to create a form of advertising on their official websites through the publication of these videos. Internets special characteristics are highly visible and realized in the videos on YouTube. Users are very active which take expressions in creative creations of videos. On YouTube there also exists negative information about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

This master?s thesis aims to analyze the ongoing debate in Scandinavia on research evaluation of the humanities. This field of research uses bibliometrics, quantative analysis of bibliographical units as a research assessment tool. In recent years evaluative bibliometrics has been an increasingly used method. In Scandinavia, governments have introduced new funding models for research in higher educational institutions.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to make an outline of different methods and theories within the field of bibliometrics and critically review their strengths and weaknesses. The author studied literature that discussed bibliometric methods and theories. The number of empirical studies that are based on bibliometric methods and theories are numerous and where principally excluded, but some empirical studies were included as part of the argumentation for and against different methods and theories. The author first gives an outline of which methods and theories there are and describes their different strengths and weaknesses. Citation analysis has many different fields of application such as information retrieval, mapping science, evaluative studies and monitoring literature.

This thesis is an evaluative study of the political reform, Friskolereformen, which enabled independent schools to receive state funding. The study evaluates to what extent the incentives, which preceded the reform, have been fulfilled. The evaluation is defined to include upper secondary schools in the municipality of Halmstad during the years of 2005?2010. The reform was enacted on the basis that it would result in a higher standard of quality, efficiency and freedom of choice.