This thesis is an investigation of Iranian immigrants and their use of libraries in Sweden. It isbased on a combination of a qualitative and a·quantitative method.Using a qualitative method, I give an outline of the history of lran from ancient times up to the present, as well as the different ethnological groups in Iran and their cultures. The main objective of this part is to clarify the contrasts between Iranian and Swedish cultural, social, linguistic and family structures, and also the characteristics of the crisis that most immigrants go through on their arrival in the new country. The qualitative method also involves structured telephone interviews with eight highly educated Iranians.This method was supplemented by a quantitative study through questionnaires of the attitudes· of lranian immigrants to libraries and reading. Iranians in Sweden turned out to be frequent Iibrary users.

Executive summaryOn todays fashion market, no product will become successful without branding. The competition in the growing fashion market is tuff, which makes it hard to reach the target costumers. Competition makes it difficult to reach out with a message and it is crucial to differentiate the company in the consumer market.Differentiation of the brand requires knowledge of competitors who are on the market. Understanding competitors, as well as the customer, is the basis for a well functioning communication. Different markets have different conditions and today's global market is complex.

Infection with the bovine lungworm - Dictyocaulus viviparus - is occasionally a problem in Swedish cattle herds. The infection could act in synergism with other infections such as Corona virus to create a poorer welfare and productivity in cattle. Studies have shown that a diagnosis can be made with both the Baermann method and with an ELISA. In Norway diagnosis of BVDV on a herd level is attained through pooled serum samples. The question was raised whether pooled serum samples could be used in a similar fashion to attain status on a herd level for lungworm.

AbstractThis essay concerns young women´s point of view and discussions about rape and rape victims. The purpose was to examine young women´s view on rape and rape victims. By young women we mean 17 to 18 year-old-high school-students.Our main questions were how young women define rape, if there are any circumstances were they blame the victim and/or consider her less trustworthy and how they explain rape.This study is based on one qualitatively oriented group interview, with six young women, and four individual interviews, as compliment to the group interview. We have used our interviews and earlier research to answer our questions. The analysis is based on a feministic point of view and Nils Christies article on "ideal victims".The result that appeared was that the young women´s broad definition of rape narrows down through the different circumstances concerning the alcohol consumption, the woman´s way of living and what clothes she was wearing, the acquaintance-level between the victim and perpetrator and how the woman says "no" to sex.

This essay focuses on the pictures in mathematics books for elementary school. The purpose was to see if images in mathematics books for elementary school show traditional gender roles.The aim of the essay has been broken down into following research questions:Vilka färger förknippar de olika matematikböckerna till pojkar/män respektive flickor/kvinnor?How many times were girls/women and boys/men illustrated in the mathematics books?What behavior is associated with masculinity and femininity?Which colours are associated with boys/men and girls/women in the mathematics books?I used a semiotic image analysis method to study the pictures presented in the mathematics books. The theories in this essay were used to see how society makes girls become girls and boys become boys and in what ways the genders are portrayed in relation to each other. In addition, the theories include the question of whether a specific colour is given to a specific gender? The analysis evidently confirmed that the images in the mathematics books demonstrated traditional gender roles.

This Masters thesis is analysing four Swedish novels written by first time authors published between 1993-2002. The purpose is to make the fictitious main characters illustrate what conditions and obstacles there can be for the individual of today to create a self-identity. Anthony Giddens ideas about the self in the late modern society are used as a theoretical framework. In the core of Giddens theory is the concept of reflexitivity which means that the self must be constructed in a continuous fashion because the overall conditions in society are subject to constant change. The questions posed in this study are dependable on Giddens in general and the concept of reflexivity in particular.

Millions of animals are annually affected by human activities; in the food industry, zoos and animal shows, clothes and shoes production, furniture and pharmaceutical industry, research, as well as pet and sports animal industry. Companies working with Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, have become more common and within this area there are great possibilities for companies to work with animal welfare. In this study five companies were interviewed and 27 companies participated in a survey regarding CSR and animal welfare. The aim of this study was to investigate opinion and approach among companies towards implementing animal welfare as a part of their work with CSR. Furthermore the aim of the study was to investigate how companies may implement animal welfare. The result showed that the vast majority of the companies participating in the study works with CSR and the main part of the companies also answered that they have implemented animal welfare. The way of working with animal welfare varied among the participants; e.g.

The purpose of this study is to find out teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content and to highlight knowledge and experiences within the range of using manipulatives to concretize. By answering the questions below different approaches a teacher may have towards the manipulatives and how that may impact on student?s learning will also be discussed in comparison to mainly traditional and socially constructive theories of learning.What is the teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize?What purpose do they have when using manipulatives?According to the teachers, what does it mean to concretize a certain mathematical content?According to the teachers, what connection is there between manipulatives and concretizing?Through interviews and observations conclusions can be made that the teachers are in general positive towards using manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content although the definition of what a manipulative is differ somewhat between the teachers. The teachers working with manipulatives do it in a well thought out fashion but more research is needed to furthermore define the purpose of using manipulatives. Few countries spend so much time concretizing and working with manipulatives as Sweden do, but still Sweden score below the OECD-average on the mathematical PISA-tests.

The educational underachievement of children in foster care has been known for a long time. This study aimed to compile and analyze the current knowledge about interventions, intended to improve foster children?s school achievements. The method used was a systematically undertaken narrative review. Despite a comprehensive searching strategy, only ten relevant studies were found, indicating that little has been done to improve the educational outcomes for children in public care.

This paper examines the relationship between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand, emotional attachment and consumer commitment. The study aim to explore several dimensions of the experienced quality in the offering of a brand. Further we examine two conceptualizations of emotional attachment - Brand Attachment and Brand Love - and intend to declare the two of being two separate phenomena. We then conduct a relationship-based analysis wherein the mediating ability of Brand Attachment and Brand Love, between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand and consumer commitment, is examined. Therefore we conduct a focused quantitative study, wherein 171 customers of the fashion retailer H&M have responded to a comprehensive survey both online and in-store, to examine this fun-damental relationship and its components.

Today's young people find themselves in an intense media traffic where many messages have a commercial nature. Some such messages are for example different types of advertising in various media and advertising often plays on the uncertainty that may be common in adoles-cence. New interactive media like blogs on the Internet has been established in recent years. Mixed types of media content, advertising with different messages, appear in blogs. Therefore, I am interested in how blogs on the Internet can influence young people's creation of their identity.

AbstractFor several years, the organic food sales have increased, and more are choosing to buyorganic food of more diverse causes. Unfortunately the sales have slowed down the past year,a lot depends on the Swedish economy has been in decline and it has led to more will checkone more time on the price. But even if the sale value has decreased, the amount of organicfood has increased, it is because many stores have their own organic brands and they can pushprices down.The internet has become a great help in our daily lives, we do most our business via theInternet. But now we are not just paying our bills through the Internet anymore, we shopclothes, movies, music and books too. E-commerce was become more serious last decade andhas grown every year that has passed.

AbstractFor several years, the organic food sales have increased, and more are choosing to buyorganic food of more diverse causes. Unfortunately the sales have slowed down the past year,a lot depends on the Swedish economy has been in decline and it has led to more will checkone more time on the price. But even if the sale value has decreased, the amount of organicfood has increased, it is because many stores have their own organic brands and they can pushprices down.The internet has become a great help in our daily lives, we do most our business via theInternet. But now we are not just paying our bills through the Internet anymore, we shopclothes, movies, music and books too. E-commerce was become more serious last decade andhas grown every year that has passed.

My main purpose with this paper of John Steinbecks Of mice and men is to both analyze the long-lived structures and the unique individual destinies of the novel. I employ the method of the historical Annales-movement and use three divided levels in my analysis to try to capture these high structures and low moments of humanity in Structure, Konjuncture and the Individuality. The first level, Structure, is used to see how long-lived almost invisible geographic structures set the human act of condition. The second level, Konjuncture, is easier to grasp in understanding of time and embraces for example economic structures as the industrialism. The last level of Individuality is the fastest in time and easiest to understand but in the long run also the least important.

Abstract in EnglishSeventeen students in Creative Writing at the Växjö University who terminated in January 2005 published chosen texts in an anthology by the name Förflyttningar (Movements). The aim of my study is to analyse how they explore and describe our time in the western world. The question is; what is being written now and here?I have chosen as theoretical background the Italian philosopher, Umberto Galimberti, who has made a study of the West from moral and ethical perspective. His conclusion is that we live in a world with seven new sins.