Introduction: The world is changing rapidly and the uncertainty that characterizes today´s society makes companies preparations for the future crucial. Purpose: To examine how CEO:s in small companies look at the future and what kind of preparations they make in order to meet it. Hereby, our ambition is to find out whether there is a difference between companies working in industries characterized by different degrees of stability. Mode of procedure: The purpose of this thesis has been fulfilled by interviews with four CEO:s from industries characterized by different degrees of stability. Result: The companies working in relatively unstable environments tended to be relatively more flexible and have an emergent strategy formation process, whereas companies working in relatively stable environments displayed relatively less flexibility and tended to have a planning strategy formation process..

This study aimed to explore how 31 collage students' cognitive performance and their ability to create false memories were affected by the exposure of an extraneous background noise. The studies main hypotheses were based on previous research on how extraneous noise affect the cognitive ability and the creation of false memories: 1) that an extraneous background noise increases the ability to create false memories, 2) that an extraneous background noise impairs the learning of cognitive information, 3) that an extraneous background noise contributes to an increased representation of fictional words, 4) that an extraneous background noise impedes the ability to understand speech . The results showed a tendency in which false memories increased in the condition without background noise, a result which goes in the opposite direction of the hypothesis. Furthermore, the result supported the hypothesis that the extraneous background noise impairs the learning of cognitive information. The results also showed that there was no effect between the conditions regarding the representation of fictional information.

In outdoor education the empirical outdoor experience is an important basis for a learning process ? the teacher can affect learning with the choice of location. In order to develop the model in school, we need to build on teachers' perception of how their every day schoolwork looks like. This paper takes as its starting point at three teachers' perception of their learning environment and outdoor environments as well as a theoretical model of the site's importance in the learning process. The paper addresses both the importance of a structured and a unstructured meeting with outdoor sites.

This essay discusses people's perception of what is important for their well-being where they live. The main aim has been to find out what factors in the outdoor environments of the city are appreciated and why they are valued positively. A comparison has been made between Uppsala in Sweden and Tarapoto in Peru to see if, and in that case what, differences can be found in the values of people. I chose to carry out a survey study that got a response rate of 57 persons in Tarapoto and 63 in Uppsala. The results show that there are some common basic values, but on the whole the outdoor environments are valued differently in the two cities. In short, the Peruvians value functionality, cleanliness, small distances to family and service, while the Swedes value a central location and short distances to friends apart from functionality and good service opportunities. Conceivable reasons for this might be for example different cultural prerequisits, material standard and climate. .

The following study is a qualitative combination of textual analysis and interviews concerning the subject of slashfiction. Slash is a sub-category to fanfiction, which essentially means non-professionally authored short stories about already existing characters and environments, for example from TV-shows, movies or books. These stories are available on the internet. The main point is to pair two of the male characters together in a sexual relationship. According to previous studies, 90 percent of all fanfiction writers are female and this percentage is probably even higher when it comes to slash.I have looked into what these stories can be an expression of, by analyzing the construction of gender, sexuality and relationships using the following three questions:Is slash a quest for an ideal equal and romantic relationship?Do these stories represent a resistance against established norms regarding gender and sexuality?What role does transcendence of boundaries play in slash? I have used stories that are derived from the American TV show Supernatural, which generally try to explore the relationship between its protagonists, the brothers Sam and Dean Winchester.  The result gives a somewhat divided picture of slash, as some stories clearly break with traditional gender norms while others seem to uphold them..

Nature-like plantations are areas that, by today?s maintenance procedure usually gains low prioritiy and are forgotten. Most nature-like plantations are currently disadvantaged and have in many cases grown up and formed dense,impenetrable and brushwoody green volumes. These green volumes is rarely used, but usually only fills out gap surfaces. With proper care nature-like plantations can become health promoting environments in the increasinglyhardened urban environments.How vegetation systems work and how trees and shrubs interact is dependent on many factors.

Can landscape architecture be seen as an economical asset rather than as a cost? Can well designed outdoor environments affect real estate values? This study investigates the economical value of landscape architecture and its influence on real estate prices. Research results on the relation between landscape architecture and real estate values are here compiled together with a survey made among players on the Swedish real estate market of their attitudes towards the problem. This study shows that the players on the Swedish real estate market often are unaware of the economical effects of landscape architecture pointed out in the compiled research. The study also shows that to use this information in actual projects several steps need to be taken: better knowledge of the problem, more and better compilations of research results, effective channels to spread the compiled information, proper employment and implementation of the knowledge. Extended knowledge of the relation between landscape architecture and real estate values will result in new ways of making money on outdoor environments. This would in turn have consequences for how the real estate business treat outdoor environments and how landscape architects work. The study is divided into four main questions: 1: Is there a relation between good landscape architecture and real estate prices? 2: What is the view of the players on the real estate market in this matter? 3: Is there more knowledge, research and practical models at hand? 4: What future steps can be taken to broaden the knowledge and apply it to real situations?.

Making the work in the public sector more efficient is something that has been seen as necessary during the later years. One way to do this on municipal level has been to apply solutions former used mostly by private companies. The organisational parts have also been adjusted to existing conditions in this work of change. For example more and more municipalities have come to use the purchaser-supplier model since the beginning of the 1990's. Norrköping, Linköping and Motala have been chosen in this essay for a closer study of the effects of the changes of the 90's, from an efficiency point of view.

In this essay I analyse the constructions of gender in the series The Phantom by Lee Falk. I apply David Tjeders readings of the bourgouise masculinity, its sensitive character and great risk of falling into unmanliness, when discussing The Phantom?s masculine development. I have analysed three adventures of The Phantom from the years 1937, 1977 and 1996, all authored by original creator Lee Falk. I argue that The Phantom increases his use of violence, therefore risking a loss of character.

The focus of this study is to identify important factors affect, how teachers' professional identity and role are shaped and changed during and after teacher training. Study's focus is to identify important factors bearing on how teachers' professional identity and role are shaped and changed during and after a teacher training. Respondents included in study are all teachers in vocational subject in upper secondary school. They also have experience from at practical profession before they began to work as teachers and started the teacher training. Method used in this study is the life stories of narrative nature.

Even though the American author H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) has been praised as one of the most influential writers of horror literature in the 20th century, his style of writing has occasionally been criticized. Lovecraft was using a writing style based on strict scientific language, where the human condition and existence are irrelevant in the narrative. This includes less focus on character development and more on the importance of atmosphere and environments. I am presenting narratological analyzes of what is often considered to be three of Lovecraft?s ?greatest works?: ?The Call of Cthulhu?, At the Mountains of Madness, and ?The Shadow over Innsmouth.? These analyzes are used to highlight Lovecraft?s science-oriented language and narratological techniques, with the focus of studying what methods Lovecraft was using to give his works and his readers a sense of dread, hopelessness, and an alien atmosphere.

There are few legally protected gardens in Sweden, and those that are protected are mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries. All time periods have the same value and more modern gardens therefore needs to be protected. Evaluating parks is, however, complicated since it do not exist any methods. One environment from the 1960?s that has not been protected is Televerket in Farsta, Stockholm. The facility has been classified as worthy of preservation by Stockholm City Museum and has received the Kasper Salin Prize.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how the supernatural and the occult are portrayed inpopular culture. To be able to do this, I have chosen to perform a discourse analysis of the twofirst novels in the L. J Smith series The Vampire Diaries. The novels are called TheAwakening and The Struggle.I apply the following questions in my analysis to narrow down the perspective further.?In what situations are supernatural used in the books and what part does it play??How does the supernatural affect the main characters and how is this portrayed in the novel??How is the supernatural portrayed depending on the gender of the character?I will focus mostly on the vampires since they generally are the ones who introduce thesupernatural elements into the story.I am applying gender theory in my discourse analyses of the novels, to hopefully be able togive a wider picture of the supernatural in relation to gender in the novels.I begin with analyzing the main discourses in the story, revolving around the supernatural.Secondly I analyze what impact the supernatural has on the main character.

This degree project contains a summary of all existing patents dealing with roller hemmingdevices to provide the client with a basis to develop its own roller hemming devicewithout infringing on existing patent. It also aims to describe all the patents on operationand function and provide a review of patents and give a proposal to a new roller hemmingdevice. The project is carried out in cooperation with Epsilon Industrikonstruktioner AB..

When one experiences a place, it is a complex composition of both social and spatial factors.One of these spatial elements, is scale, which is influenced both by the room size and itsproportions. This paper aims to explore both large and small scale concepts and thus increasethe understanding of how scale directly and indirectly affects the experiences and uses ofurban space.First, is a theoretical discussion of scale in relation to aesthetics and the differencesbetween real scale and perceived scale. Next, is an analysis of spatial perception usingexamples from two existing sites. One, which is understood to have been planned in a largescale and one which is understood to have been planned in a small scale.When preparing this paper, the focus quickly became the importance of scale as itrelates to street spaces. The perception of a street usually takes place while in motion, whichforces it to be perceived in sections.