The problem being examined is the disturbing noise that is created in an open plan office on a company working with a creative process, such as a newspaper or a communications agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the needs for today for a sound absorber in open offices and create and design a design proposal. The aim is also to develop a marketing material the product proposal. The problem has been broken down into the following questions:- How does the user look at the need of a sound absorber in an open offices solution today?- Does an interior designer apply sound absorbers when they furnish the intended environment? - How can a design that meets the needs that exists be achieved and to speak the user?The study is based on three choice of methods a literature review on selected topics that relate to the topic, an interview with an interior designer to explore how an interior designer applies absorbers in open plan office and finally an extensive survey that treats the user's needs and appropriate appearance for the product proposal.The design process has undertaken the following methods, design brief, requirements specification, functional analysis and sketches to produce the final product proposal.

This essay shows how the concept of virtue can deepen our understanding considering processes of empowerment. A virtue is understood as a trait of character, manifested in habitual action, that it is good for person a to have. Virtues are interpreted as socially constructed. Empowerment is presented as a process toward self-confidence and self-determination where recourses and freedom propels the development toward power for the individual, the household and the community. Why does the concept of virtue deepen our understanding? It is argued that our theoretical perceptive of empowerment needs to better encompass values, norms and practise.

This thesis studies path generation for industrial robots of six degrees of freedom. A path is defined by connection of simple geometrical objects like arcs and straight lines. About each point at which the objects connect, a region, henceforth called a zone, is defined in which deviation from the defined path is permitted. The zone allows the robot to follow the path at a constant speed, but the acceleration needed may vary. Some means of calculating the zone path as to make the acceleration continuous will be presented.

The Swedish construction industry is dominated by men; however this is starting to change. The average age of Construction Engineers is high and approximately 40 per cent of the employees will retire by the year 2015. Currently, female engineers dominate the graduating classes of Swedish Universities but this is not reflected in the Swedish Construction industry.With so many female engineers available, why is this? Does it require a change in company culture and their condition of work to attract them? Is it the attitude towards women in the industry among the employees that has to be changed? Or is it a woman?s thoughts and prejudices of the industry that creates obstacles?The purpose of this final thesis is to describe how contracting firms in the construction industry can make themselves more attractive for female engineers. To reach the purpose, a study among salaried employees and craftsmen was conducted.

The similarity between the Russian and the Indian, in a Cold War context, may be ambiguous considering the ethnic-social variables and the period in time from where the Indians relate. However, by analyzing these, as well as other, characters in the exhibition of movies, we could learn something about the ideology of the time from which the movies derive.This study examines ideology and movies in the Cold War era and concludes that the Indian, for example, may be representing the values of the common public enemy, originating from the Cold War ideology. The movies examined, regardless of influence of distinct Cold War themes or lack of such themes, carry attributes that give evidence of typical Cold War ideology. The fear of communism and common enemies connected to a Cold War context, the thought of America as the land of the free ? with the horizon in the ending of the movies as metaphoric to freedom ? and the moral rhetoric that connects to the American thought of a duty as a global savior, are all signs of the Cold War ideology.Even though the messages are somewhat clearer and more distinct in the movies with Cold War motifs, the fact that ideology is projected through other movies as well should be considered essential for the continuing study of movies as cultural artefacts..

Open access (OA) is a publishing model aimed at increasingthe access to academic research results. The object of thisstudy was to contrast nine colleges and four fundingorganizations in Scandinavia with mandatory OA-policies,and to study how they put OA into practice.Inspired by the Open Access Spectrum (OAS), a tool used toappreciate the OA of academic journals, the aim was tograde the policy documents of the colleges using the OASmodel.The study also compares how the colleges implementtheir OA-policies as well as how, and if, the demands fromthe funding organizations are reflected in the policies of thecolleges.The findings show that the OAS is not a tool designed forgreen OA and that all the information needed for the scale tofunction was not found in the policy documents we studied.A selection of the colleges has some demands in theirpolicies, although most of them allow exceptions to be madefrom the mandatory policy. This is shown to be mainly aquestion of academic freedom, and copyright, or rather thanthe degree to which the scientist and the publisher can cometo an agreement on allowing the information to be accessiblethrough OA.The study proposes that the way to change this may be toincrease the demands on OA in the policies, and that the bestsolution might be in stipulations within the employmentcontracts between the individual colleges and scientist..

The problem being examined is the disturbing noise that is created in an open plan office on a company working with a creative process, such as a newspaper or a communications agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the needs for today for a sound absorber in open offices and create and design a design proposal. The aim is also to develop a marketing material the product proposal. The problem has been broken down into the following questions:- How does the user look at the need of a sound absorber in an open offices solution today?- Does an interior designer apply sound absorbers when they furnish the intended environment? - How can a design that meets the needs that exists be achieved and to speak the user?The study is based on three choice of methods a literature review on selected topics that relate to the topic, an interview with an interior designer to explore how an interior designer applies absorbers in open plan office and finally an extensive survey that treats the user's needs and appropriate appearance for the product proposal.The design process has undertaken the following methods, design brief, requirements specification, functional analysis and sketches to produce the final product proposal.

The main purpose of the culture is to serve people and represent the people's social will and freedom. Culture does not exist in a vacuum but shaped and framed by political and artistic structures that are not neutral, and this is why the artwork itself cannot be an independent business. The public function of art can be understood as a defense of the ideals of democracy. But today, when political power is often replaced by hegemony, the role of art and functions are changing. How these changes reflect to the identity, reality and truth of society? What political functions are fulfilled when art becomes ?public?? The issue of democracy is linked question of people?s power in a democratic society where power is legitimized in social space.

Departing from Fred Dretske?s groundbreaking article, this essay explore the epistemic closure principle: the principle that states that knowledge is closed under known implication. It also explores the relationship to skepticism, various attempts to challenge and defend the principle, as well as developing a new perspective where the skeptical premise is seen as an a priori justified tautology that can be overriden by a posteriori experience. I argue that Dretske?s illuminating example makes it clear that there is an unescapable choice between either rejecting a skeptical premise ? however intuitive it may seem ? or inextricably having to admit a skeptical conclusion. .

The colour choice of spiders and the effects of competition on this phenomenon were examined in the laboratory using the sit-and-wait predator goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia, (Thomisidae)). This species can  be both white and yellow (could also change colour)  and it was here examined whether individuals preferred to sit on flowers which has the same colouration as their bodies. I found that M.vatia showed preference for flowers that matched their own body colour, but when competition was introduced this preference disappear. It seems, however, that position is a factor that can influences the substrate decisions of M. vatia, where the edge of the flower is preferred..

The purpose of this essay is to try and bring clarity to the question, what is Chick Lit and which factors make it so popular. My thesis  endeavors to explain that it is not only the promise of light entertainment that draws the reader, but also the possibility that in an easy way they can read about existential questions such as self-development  and life -choices.As well as mapping out Chick Lit´s specific characteristics, followed by previous research on the subject and the litterateur?s history, I have found it interesting to discuss the female characters, their personalities and life choice?s against a backdrop of existentialistic philosophy.In my research of this form of literateur I have discovered that chick lit often deals with existential universal problems, and that in order to be entertaining these books must contain a serious element..

This essay is investigating what type of sources we trust, depending on how the information in these sources is created and provided. To exemplify, the sources Wikipedia and Nationalencyklopedin (the Swedish National Encyclopedia) were used, each one representing different approaches. The first is a representation of the collective intelligence, where anyone can contribute with their knowledge to the public ? freedom under responsibility. The latter represents peer-reviewed knowledge, desirable enough to have people paying for it? true and unaffected.Based on theories of source criticism, collective intelligence, expertise and the different generations of digital natives and digital immigrants, two focus groups were conducted and analysed.

In this qualitative study the authors explores, by studying several quality-development models what quality in leadership is. The models are: Total Quality Management; SIQ?s model for customer-oriented organizational development; the EFQM excellence model; the ISO 9000:2000 standard; and Six Sigma. These models will be compared from Deming?s list for upper management; the Situational Leadership Theory; and the Contingency Theory.

This thesis is a case-study of an ongoing court case between the Swedish Competition Agency and Växjö Municipality about a set-up requirement to the long-distance heating system for newly built private houses on municipality owned land. This requirement was set up as part of the municipality?s long-term environmental goals; however the Competition Agency claims that the demand is damaging the free market in the municipality. The purpose of this thesis is to determine which normative assumptions the decision makers have based their actions and re-action on, and whether or not these assumptions are valid, thru theoretical ideal types. This is determined via method of textual analysis.

The problem being examined is the disturbing noise that is created in an open plan office on a company working with a creative process, such as a newspaper or a communications agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the needs for today for a sound absorber in open offices and create and design a design proposal. The aim is also to develop a marketing material the product proposal. The problem has been broken down into the following questions:- How does the user look at the need of a sound absorber in an open offices solution today?- Does an interior designer apply sound absorbers when they furnish the intended environment? - How can a design that meets the needs that exists be achieved and to speak the user?The study is based on three choice of methods a literature review on selected topics that relate to the topic, an interview with an interior designer to explore how an interior designer applies absorbers in open plan office and finally an extensive survey that treats the user's needs and appropriate appearance for the product proposal.The design process has undertaken the following methods, design brief, requirements specification, functional analysis and sketches to produce the final product proposal.