The parrot is a common symbol, or even cliché, in Western literature, going all the way back fromancient Greece to the present date, and in many a genre. This study reads the oeuvre of the NobelPrize winner Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) as being closely related to these certain traditions andconnotations of for example religion, satire, and speaking nonsense, in his frequent use of parrotsand their symbolic potentials, in his writing. Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish a movementin Beckett?s use of parrots, from a more or less traditionally use, to one more philosophicallyprofound.Although the parrot graces us with its presence (or at least may be traced) in almost everywork written by Beckett, from the poem ?Whoroscope? (1930) to How It Is (1961), they are onlymentioned sparsely by his interpreters. Therefore, a brief history of the literary tradition of theparrot will be expounded.

The edge or the fringe of the city is often the first part of the city we encounter, and our perception of it will probably color the image we make in our minds of the city as a whole. Even though the fringe of the city is important to the image of the cityscape it has not very often been the direct object of attention either in planning, building or even in the heads of the masters, when big ideas were formed. More often than not the fringe seems like something that just happened over time due to separate landowners, businesses or actions of other financially strong operators. The aim of this essay is to try to describe the history of the city edge in Sweden, from the very first town in the 10th century until today?s expanding mosaic of different ideas and styles as well as to bring some clarity and order into some of the different ideas and ideals in the planning of the edge in different eras and to review how the edge has been shaped and used.

This Masters thesis is a study of the truck-driver profession and their use of libraries located in gas-stations and restaurants along the highways in Sweden. The reason for this interest is the positive trend that has occurred concerning men without any university education and their reading-habits, that is due to their increased interest in listening to audio books. This challenges the general opinion that this group is not particularly interested in reading literature. Questions posed in this study are: How do the truck-drivers relate to the activity of reading literature, what part does the road-libraries play, and how can the services that the road-libraries offer be improved according to the truck-drivers. The method used in the study is interviews made by telephone.

My thesis is a study of how the perception of booktalk aimed at kids and youngsters in the Swedish educational system has changed between 1932 and 2007. A discursive reading of articles in the magazine Biblioteksbladet provides the basis for my investigation. The thesis argues that an older "authoritaritan" and "traditional" discourse has given way for a more modern, "anti-authoritaritan" and "lust"-directed discourse. The older discourse was designed to make sure that young people were provided with a certain well-defined quantity of "approved" literature. The new discourse stresses the importance of fostering kids and youngsters with a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards reading in general.

The aim of this literature review was to discern which legislations and regulations related to animal welfare that comprises reindeer and their significance in reindeer husbandry. The Swedish Animal Welfare Act (1988:534) was enacted July 1, 1988 and its main purpose is to ensure a good animal health and environment. Animals that live in a good environment with good health is considered to have good welfare, which can be described as an individual's condition in relation to its surroundings. Reindeer herding is an extensive form without daily management. In reindeer husbandry there are eight specific seasons over the year and reindeer are handled as they migrates between pastures, get earmarks, are sorted for transport and slaughter.

This study is about how students 'performance in school is influenced by parents' educational background. The study has been performed by cooperation with two schools in Stockholm. One class in each school has participated and the students have amongst other questions answered regarding their grades in natural science subjects. To examine whether parents 'educational background affect students' performance, a quantitative survey in the form of poll has been conducted. Even a literature review was conducted in this area to get a clearer picture of how parents' educational background affects the performance of students.This study shows that students who have academic parents perform better than students who have not got academically educated parents.

This masters thesis examines the reading environment during "booktalk", with special reference to a reading project in compulsory comprehensive and upper secondary schools in Stockholm. The main question is: What does the reading environment look like during booktalk? Three questions are asked: Which factors affect the reading environment? Which are the conditions concerning book selection and book availability? How do the librarians perform as enabling adults? Different groups of pupils, together with their teachers and the librarian, are studied during booktalks in five schools. The study uses a qualitative approach, which takes the form of open observations during 15 booktalks and one interview with the two librarians involved in the project and studies of literature. The theoretical framework is Aidan Chambers theory relating to reading environment and its effects upon the reading process.

With this essay we would like to examine to what extent the ancient Icelandic literature could count as a part of Sweden?s literal cultural heritage in schools today, if it through seeking information is possible to say whether this literature have any connections to Sweden. Our questions of issue are:1. What kind of connection is there between ancient Icelandic literature and Swedish literary cultural heritage and what are the ancient Icelandic literature premises? in the Swedish upper secondary school?2.

This essay studied how six girls experienced their reading development during their college education in male-dominated profession programs. The issues assumed were how they experience their literature reading and literature education and what happened with their interest in reading. The theoretical frame included researchers Säljö, Rosenblatt, Gun Malmgren, Olin-Scheller, Ulfgaard and Molloy.The study showed that most of the girls felt their reading had worsened but not because of their male classmates but because of school. They had a lot of homework and participated in so many different school projects which would be completed that there was no time to reading for pleasure. The girls did not like the teachers? literate sample and did not like the methods used in learning literature.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there are gender differences in computer use among the young. Our aim was to find out in what respects boys and girls differ, if at all. The main method of investigation is a literature review. We have also made a complementary empirical study in a public library. The literature studied principally covers computer use at home and in school.

In this comparative study, intelligibility (as measured by SWINT; SwedishIntelligibility Assessment) and self-rated communicative ability (as measuredby SOK; a self-report questionnaire concerning communication) were investigatedin 29 young adults with repaired cleft lip and palate (CLP) and in 50 age-matchedcontrols. The purpose of the study was to investigate if the outcome of these measuresdiffered between groups and/or with regard to sex, and also to identify possiblecorrelations between SOK and SWINT. Results show that young adults withrepaired CLP had a more positive attitude towards their communicative ability thancontrols, as did men with repaired CLP compared to male controls. Intelligibilitydid not differ between the two groups. A correlation between degree of intelligibilityand self-rated communicative ability was found in young adults with repairedCLP.

In this thesis, the Swedish venture capital market and its profitability is analyzed. Venture capital is defined as capital that is invested in the early stages of a company's life cycle, in the two investment stages seed/start-up and expansion.A common view is that the profitability of Swedish venture capital has not been, is not and will probably not become high either. With this in mind, we try to answer to the following questions in this thesis:? What has the profitability of Swedish venture capital actually been historically?? Which reasons could be found in order to explain the historical returns for Swedish venture capital, and which factors has been identified in international comparative studies between venture capital markets?In order to answer these questions, data showing historical returns for the Swedish, European and American venture capital market has been gathered, an extensive literature study has been performed, and three interviews with participants from the Swedish venture capital market has been conducted.We conclude that the historical returns of Swedish venture capital is in line with the general view that they have been low. We also see a trend where Swedish venture capital funds that are not specialized in one investment stage generate lower returns than more specialized funds.

A report has been made at a company in Borås at a company called ACG Nyström. Thecompany is today international and is marketing advanced equipment, systems and furthereducation to the manufacturing industry. A part of ACG Nyström?s production is a machinethey call Unimat. ACG Nyström doesn?t just stand for the actual production of the machine,but also for assembling and installation of the machine at the final customer.

This paper is a Master thesis for the Master?s program in International and European Relations in the Department of Management and Economics at Linköping University. As the title indicates, the aim of this thesis is to make a comparative analysis of the conflict resolution initiatives that were employed in the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts. The research questions are: ? What were the root causes and trajectories of the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts? ? What were the conflict resolution initiatives employed in resolving both conflicts? ? Why did the Lome Peace Accord succeed in the case of Sierra Leone whilst the Abuja Peace Accord failed in bringing peace to Liberia? In order to answer the afore-mentioned questions and fulfil the aim of this paper, a qualitative research method has been chosen.

The purpose of this literature review is to visualize the contributing factors of insufficient hygiene routines and incorrect aseptic handling. The literature review contains ten scientific articles from England, USA, Italy and Sweden, and related literature. Factors causing the problem are presented as four themes, the most reoccurring in our material are lack of time, knowledge/education, equipment and attitudes/motivation..