This Master of Science thesis was completed at the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Instituteof Technology in Stockholm in collaboration with Lund Faculty of Engineering, Luleå University ofTechnology and Stanford University. At Stanford University a global product development project wasrealized as part of the course ME310. The project was initiated by the American company ImmerseGlobal whose vision was to develop a new type of Atmospheric Water Generators, a machine that absorbsthe moisture in the air and via a water system transforms it to pure drinking water. The project was partlyfinanced by the Product Innovation Engineering program, a Swedish research and development programfor increased innovation capability in organizations.In parallel with the global project in the ME310 course the product development process was studied inorder to compare it with a product development course at the Royal Institute of Technology, IPU. Thetwo courses are similar to each other in several aspects.

The aim of this study is to examine how the adult students in the Adult Education Initiative called Kunskapslyftet, experience their use of the Main Public Library in Linköping and how the librarians experience the change in their working situation after Adult Education Initiative has started in July 1997. Methods used in the survey are interviews with librarians and students in the Adult Education Initiative. I have also distributed questionnaires to some of the adult students and studied literature that describe students use of libraries. The result shows that the students generally are satisfied with the service they get from the librarians at the Main Public Library. It also shows that what the students mostly asked for, are help to search information about a subject and to find literature in the library.

This master´s thesis is a comparative study of the importance of eight factors suggested in the literature to be related to the perceived utility of the service Book a librarian (Swe. Boka en bibliotekarie). Disciplinary differences were also analysed. 73 encounters between students and librarians in 11 Swedish academic libraries were studied using a survey. Six factors were significantly related (at the .05 level) to the utility of the service.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the experiences and views some users have of the library environment and services of the University Library of Halmstad. The main question to be answered in this thesis is what importance the users attribute to the library environment and services while pursuing their most recent library errand. To answer this question a study of relevant literature on the subjects of library environment, library services and user-surveys in other academic libraries was carried out and a questionnaire was distributed to 22 respondents in the process of visiting the University of Halmstad Library. The literature background and the results of the conducted study were interpreted and discussed and led to the following conclusions: 3 respondents encounters with the library environment and its services were negative in part and thus their experiences and views were relevant to the completion of their library errands. The other respondents? encounters confirmed their overall positive earlier experiences and views of the library environment and its services, but had no real concrete significance for the completion of their library errands..

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to explore the meaning of literature forliterate immigrants in regards to identity and integration. The study is based onqualitative interviews with eight Swedes of various backgrounds, but with thecommon experience of an immigration process. In addition to being migrants, therespondents are also public library users who have an interest in literature and whoread literature during their leisure time. To analyze the empirical material ananalytical framework, consisting of a number of analytical concepts from Libraryand Information Science, Literature Science, and Sociology, has been used.

Title: Hälsa i sociala medier - En kvalitativ studie om hur hälsoinformatörer upplever och påverkas  av hälsobudskap i sociala medier.Title: Health in social media - A qualitative study of how health communicators perceive and are affected by health messages in social media.Author: Anna HedströmInstitute: Karlstad University. Faculty of health, nature and engineering sciences.Tutor: Owe StråhlmanDate: 150615Number of pages: 34Keywords: eHealth literacy, health communication, health informers, health literacy, health messages, media literacy, social media Background: With an increased interest in diet and exercise, also health and fitness messages have increased in both traditional and social media. The general guidelines on physical activity and diet are forgotten as training tips increase in the media. Research shows that it is common for individuals to retrieve information from the media when it comes to their own health. In doing so media literacy, health literacy and eHealth literacy becomes increasingly important for health communicators and for those who receive health information. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine health communicators? experiences of health messages in social media, and how they are affected by them. Method: Qualitative interviews were chosen as a method to collect data.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate thephenomenon language café, an activity that is held in public libraries into which anyone is welcome who wants to practice their skills in Swedish, and see how this can be put in relation to integration. To reach the purpose we developed two research-questions; What does the language café fulfill for its participants? and How can the language café contribute to the promotion of integration? The study is based on semi-structured interviews with seven participants from language cafés. The theory used to analyze the results from the interviews is the Swedish sociologist José Alberto Diaz theory about the integration process which can be divided into seven dimensions. The findings of the thesis were that the language café can fill the function as a place to Speak Swedish, for Community-information, a place to meet and a place for trust and self-confidence.

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.

Electronic article surveillance (EAS) is widely used in shops and libraries together with an RF-tag attached to the goods or books in order to prevent shoplifting. By implementing the addition of a moisture sensor to the RF-tag, other functions become possible, including the ability to use as an alarm with regards to frozen goods, which have been shipped but which have melted and have, subsequently, refrozen. In- relation to care for the elderly, one time-consuming step involves checking whether there is the necessity for a change of diaper and this can, instead, be based on an RF-tag with an EAS-system alarm. A preliminary investigation was made using the moisture sensors, which involved how the resistance changes when liquid and/or heat is applied. A simulation of the LCCR circuit (RF-tag with the sensor) was conducted in order to determine how the resonance frequency changes for different resistances levels.

The purpose of this study is to examine what view librarians have on reading promotion for adults, in particular reading circles, and in which way earlier experiences, education and competence form this view. To what extent, if any, do perceptions of professional identity influence the interest to carry out some kind of reading circles for adults?Our study is based on qualitative interviews with librarians, both those in charge of reading circles in libraries and those who are not. As theoretical starting point we have used Andrew Abbott's work on theory of professions and Jofrid Karner Smidt's thesis on literary preferences and different kinds of mediation of literature. For our analysis we will also use earlier studies on the subject to place our study in a wider context.Our conclusions show that the librarians in our study have an ambivalent view on their profession and professional identity.

This thesis has been done in collaboration with Peab Stockholm Building 3, which is a region within the Peab Sverige AB. The report is based on a survey and studies of Peab business management systems and production literature. For general information gathering has literature from well-known sources collected in libraries and through the Internet. It shows through the work that Peab has routines for experience feedback in the construction process, but that these procedures work in a small scale and the practical work experience feedback does not work at all. This is also something the construction industry in general also perceived as problematic. The questions in the report are of a wide scale and concerns construction errors cost, how the employees perceive that the company takes advantage of the skills and the mental stress in production line. The goal is to find how Peab Stockholm Building 3 will work on the experience feedback to allow for better productivity. In conclusion, the report author tries to demonstrate what can lead to increased productivity and improved work experience..

This thesis presents a comparative study of image registration at two picture collection libraries. The two registration systems are analyzed as to the theoretical principles behind them and their practical application, and related to theoretical tools for subject analysis and bibliographic standards. While a growing number of picture collections now digitize their material, generally accepted standards and methods for the registration of digital images are still lacking. Many different systems coexist, often developed in-house in response to ad hoc needs and based on traditional registration tools created for textual documents, resulting in internationally incompatible mixed-format systems. The two picture collections examined here, however, have opted for similar, standardized tools for registration and subject analysis, and while there are differences in their application and focus, they have both considered issues of cross-system compatibility.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to investigate how students at an upper secondary school for adults use school and public library when searching for information for school assignments. The focus in this investigation is on the feelings and experiences of the process of the information seeking and use. The focus is also on the students experiences of school and public libraries and the help they receive from them in learning. The method used is focus groups interviews. Two groups were interviewed.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the accessibility in public libraries for persons with dyslexia and visually impaired persons. In order to do this, library services, information and attitudes have been studied. Data have been collected through interviews and studies of documents, in particular guidelines for library service to disabled persons. The theoretical starting point of the analysis is Professor Michael Bucklands different aspects of access to information. He discusses six types of barriers that must be overcome if access is to be achieved.

The aim of this study is to examine reading on the MobileReadforums. The term ?to read? is extended to also cover bookcollection and usage of new technology such as mobile readerunits.A catalyst for reading on mobile reader units seem to be the needto always have access to the personal e-book collection. Apartfrom being a source for reading the collection of e-books alsoserves the purpose of extending the members self-esteem.A large portion of the activities on the MobileRead forum isaimed at making new technology comprehensible with the help ofprotocols to determine the usage of that technology. The processof making protocols also seem to be another way for the membersto extend their self-esteem.Traditional libraries are mainly seen as one of many sources for ebooks.Librarians are mostly perceived as being service mindedbut lacking in e-book knowledge.There is also a risk for miscommunication as the library hasdeveloped other protocols that defines an e-book and how itshould be used.This study is a qualitative analysis based on forum posts collectedfrom the MobileRead forum..