The purpose of this study is to describe how the employee appraisal is perceived by managers, employees and representatives from human resources departments. The empirical material con-sists of 15 interviews: respondents were two representatives of the human resources departments, four unit managers and nine employees who work at a state institution or municipal management. In the study, I adopt a sociocultural perspective, with the communicative relational perspective. The latter is a special education perspective in which the interpenetration of participation, com-munication and learning emphasized.The result shows that the majority of employees would like to see that the talks will be held more frequently than once a year. One of the managers has in cooperation with his co-workers devel-oped a model based on that each year, in addition to salary talks, have an individual conversation, a conversation with each group and individual follow-up talks.

This is a bachelor thesis, written at the business studies institute, Uppsala Unviersity, exploring how digitalization has affected the Swedish book industry. This is done by studying how the introduction of the e-book has changed the way the publishers work and what problems and opportunities arise with the new way to publish and consume books. The technology optimists, that existed around the turn of the millennium, when the e-book came, made predictions along the lines of the physical book having ceased to exist within five to ten years. But the physical paper books do very much still exist, so haven?t the change happened as predicted? The purpose of this thesis is as follows: How has introduction of the e-book affected the relationship between the Swedish publishers and the book as a whole? This means that we consider the book as a concept, as a resource or product, and study how a change in this product affect publishers.The theoretical framework used is basically classical network theory.

To curb greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change is one of the biggest challenges human society face today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has accumulated rapidly in the atmosphere as a consequence of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The aim of this study is to explore two methods to store carbon dioxide in geological formations and biological sinks. The aim is also to discuss the two mitigation options from a sustainable perspective and whether it can lead to a better environment and benefits for local and global societies. The research questions are: Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, is the most effective? Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, has the greatest potential to promote sustainable development for local communities?The method used is a comparative case study and presents four case studies that explore the potential for CO2 storage offshore in Norway and Brazil; and in tropical forests in Mexico and Brazil.

As IT service departments in organisations are becoming more complex and customised, the indirect costs are increasing in relation to the total costs. The difficulty of fully estimating and identifying the spread of the cost in the IT service department is increasing. As a result, firms tend to budget the business unit as a total cost rather than as a spread of defined costs. In order to deal with this challenge an ABC calculation will be applied. The Time Driven ABC model will be conducted in OMX´s Servicedesk unit within the IT services.

This bachelor thesis consists of an analysis of museum environment. In the research, case studies have been done at the, Stockholm based museums, Swedish museum of Natural history?s exhibition Natur i Sverige (Nature in Sweden) and the Nordiska museet?s (Nordic history) exhibition Modemakt (Power of fashion) and learning environment Lekstugan (playhouse). The purpose of the research was to study how cultural heritage is used and developed within the museum pedagogy aimed at children. The research is based on a multimodal approach with focus on learning resources.The research examines the museums focus on children and youngsters, what the goals for this focus looks like on respective museum and how the focus is visible in the actual museums.

This paper covers a study of the Swedish charging market for electric vehicles from both the perspective of stakeholders and car owners. By interviewing representatives of four key stakeholders on the market; commercial parkings, malls, service stations and working places, data regarding their business models of today is examined. At present electricity is provided for free, but all stakeholder point out that this business model is not sustainable in the long run. The result of the interviews shows that electricity won?t be offered for free in the future ? the question is which factors affect how long it will take for the different stakeholders to find a suitable business model.

Stress is part of everyday life and in the working conditions of the social services in Sweden. Thus each and every person has resources and strategies to cope with those stressors that construct the assumption of stress. The aim of this study was to understand how persons in leading positions of the LSS of Social Services in Kalmar experience and cope with stressors in their leadership and organization and to investigate what factors during working and non-working hours promote health. Influenced by the theoretical approach of Aaron Antonovsky´s Sense of Coherence seven qualitative interviews were conducted with persons in leading positions. They were asked about stressors, coping strategies, resources and health promoting factors that help to cope with stressors.

The objective with this study is to investigate the school introduction of newly arrived students, by focusing on the latter years of high school, by comparing two schools method of working.This was done by a qualitative survey based on half structured interviews and existing school documentation.The questions of the study targeted the schools method of working, how well the education was adapted to the students and if it was appropriate to them. We also asked about the school resources to meet the need of the newly arrived students. Our theoretical assumptions were based on Haugs? terms ?including integration? and ?excluding integration?, Lahdenperäs? theory about intercultural education, Vygotskijs thoughts about adapted education and finally Blossings? description of different cooperative cultures. Our results showed that school introduction for newly arrived students were formed from the schools? view on learning development and adapted education.

The usage possibilities of mobile platforms and smart phones are increasing rapidly as they provide support for better processors, sensors and communications capabilities. This has for many companies resulted in an increased interest to explore the possibilities of mobile platforms and how they can be integrated in various business areas. As the usage of mobile platforms in industrial applications is a new area, it is difficult for companies to estimate their potential, and what contributions the different platforms can give.This master thesis investigates the possibilities and limitations for the consultant firm Combitech when integrating mobile platforms and handheld devices in industrial applications. This is accomplished through a comparison between the platforms and by considering the possible areas of use for the mobile platforms based on experiences from companies and research in the area.For a company with the intent to deliver services that use mobile platforms, it is important to be able to combine expertise and resources to effectively attract customers. The mobile platforms will, if applied right, give great possibilities in industrial applications as a cost-effective alternative for both hardware and software solutions for businesses, which provides an opportunity to sell services to both established and new clients.

The usage possibilities of mobile platforms and smart phones are increasing rapidly as they provide support for better processors, sensors and communications capabilities. This has for many companies resulted in an increased interest to explore the possibilities of mobile platforms and how they can be integrated in various business areas. As the usage of mobile platforms in industrial applications is a new area, it is difficult for companies to estimate their potential, and what contributions the different platforms can give.This master thesis investigates the possibilities and limitations for the consultant firm Combitech when integrating mobile platforms and handheld devices in industrial applications. This is accomplished through a comparison between the platforms and by considering the possible areas of use for the mobile platforms based on experiences from companies and research in the area.For a company with the intent to deliver services that use mobile platforms, it is important to be able to combine expertise and resources to effectively attract customers. The mobile platforms will, if applied right, give great possibilities in industrial applications as a cost-effective alternative for both hardware and software solutions for businesses, which provides an opportunity to sell services to both established and new clients.

The purpose of this thesis is to look into the knowledge city concept and the preferences and requirements of companies on such a city. Furthermore, suggestions of ideal conditions in a knowledge city are proposed. The thesis has been conducted through a qualitative approach where a deductive procedure has been implemented. In order to examine knowledge cities, Barcelona has sketchily been looked at as an early example of a knowledge city, whereas a more exhaustive observation of Copenhagen was conducted. Since the concept of knowledge cities is a rather new phenomenon, models from several disciplines constitute the theoretical framework.

This dissertation discusses head librarians in Swedish public libraries and the stress factors which affect them. The aim is to map out potential stress factors which head librarians come across in their day-to-day work. The purpose of the dissertation is to answer the following question: what stress factors affect library managers in Swedish public libraries? The dissertation was conducted through a literature study, informal interviews and a quantitative questionnaire. The results of the quantitative questionnaires show that the factor that produces the highest level of stress is having too many different tasks.

The Animal Protection Agency was in 2006, commissioned by the Government to: Evaluate how free range animals in the winter, can be kept and managed with special emphasis to animal welfare. The Animal Protection Agency was closed later in 2006 and the commission moved to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. The keeping of free range out wintered cattle, certain basic requirement are needed: by regulation, cattle should have access to a lying hall or other building that gives protection against aversive weather and wind and should offer a dry and clean lying area. There is a possibility for farmers that get an exemption from this regulation. But cases regarding farms which have had difficulties for this exemption has led to a discussion about if the animals can get the same protection in the nature which is comparable to a lying- hall.

The purpose of this thesis is to study and determine how working in cross functional teams can generate value in an effort to facilitate innovation. An inductive scientific perspective is chosen as the research approach. A single case is investigated with the theoretical framework based on Resource Based View, Intellectual Capital, Innovation theory and theories concerning Cross Functional Teams. The empirical material has been collected through primary data; surveys, interviews and secondary data; literature, websites and further complementary data. The practice of using Cross Functional Teams will enhance organizational learning, knowledge transfer, increase communication and innovation, which in turn will increase the speed and performance of the new product development process.

Den fria lekens betydelse - Pedagogers deltagande och syn på barnens fria lek (The importance of childrens free play - Educationalists participation and view on childrens free play). Vi, Dzana och Alexandra har i vår studie valt att belysa tre pedagogers tankar om barnens fria lek. Underfrågor som vi har använt som hjälp till vår studie är: Hur ser pedagogerna på barnens fria lek? Hur arbetar pedagogerna för att utveckla barnens fria lek? Hur deltagande anser pedagogerna att man ska vara i barnens fria lek? För att få svar på våra frågeställningar har vi valt att använda oss av både intervjuer och observationer som i sin tur kompletterar varandra. Deltagarna i vår studie består av tre pedagoger, en förskollärare, två barnskötare samt barnen på den valda avdelningen. Syftet med studien är att belysa de tre pedagogernas deltagande i leksituationen med barnen på den valda avdelningen. Vi har med hjälp av intervjuer och observationer undersökt vilka tankar pedagogerna har om den fria leken för att sedan undersöka hur dessa stämmer överens med deras handlingar, detta främst genom samspelet mellan pedagogerna och barnen i barnens lek.De viktigaste resultaten under vår studie är att de tre pedagogernas syn på barnens lek är av stor betydelse, pedagogerna anser att man som pedagog skall vara deltagande i barnens lek på barnens villkor. Under studiens gång visade det sig att pedagogernas deltagande till största del handlade om att samtala istället för att inta en roll och delta i leken på barnens villkor. Nyckelord: Deltagande, fri lek, förhållningssätt, pedagoger, utveckling..