This essay aims to examine how theories within childhood sociology have evolved. The main questions are: Who are the central scientists within the field, what are their objects of study and who are the intended recipients of their work? How can the origin of the theories be described? Which elements are central in the theories and have they changed over time? How can the theories be evaluated based on criteria of valid theories?The study was based on a qualitative literature review. Six scientists' publications were examined, ranging from the time of the theories establishment to present time. In the analysis hermeneutics and theories of scientific development were used to seek explanations.The main results show that the central elements in the theories describe childhood as a social phenomenon and a structural category.

This thesis is a queer masculinity reading of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?s short story collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894). The analysis focuses on the dissonances, tensions and queerness that reside within the text itself. This has been done from my problem statement: How is Sherlock Holmes and John Watson?s sexuality and masculinity portrayed within the boundary of the text? What is being said, what is hidden, and what is dealt with silently? To reveal these queer parts this analysis has been focused around five themes: the late Victorian male, the Woman, countertypes and decadence, the homosocial sphere and sexuality.

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how the European Union through the Directorate- General (DG) of Education and Culture, are calling forth a constructed sense of European identity amongst the citizens of the Union.It is a discourse analysis, which can be described in twofold. Firstly, it is a mapping of the European discourse; i.e. how the European Union defines the identity it seeks to mobilise. Secondly, it examines whether or not there are similarities in the European discourse of identity and the traditional nation-building discourse of national identity.According to this thesis a European identity is articulated in cultural terms, whereby its members are said to share the same values and a common cultural heritage.To bring the people of Europe closer together and to deepen awareness of their "common" history, the European Union encourages all manner of meetings and exchange schemes between Europeans. Although its goal is to develop a feeling of belonging to a shared culture, the EU is also keen to preserve the specific aspects of Europe's many cultures.

The aim of this study is to investigate wether the participatory democracy is a threat or a complement to the representative democracy. To achieve my purpose I will focus on two different lokal councils, the civil council in Hovsjö and the youth council in Västra Skogås, which have been objects of the urban policy in 1998. The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of the participation democratic theory, representative democratic theory and implementation theory. By problemizing these theoretical frameworks in comparison with eachother I will mapp how these two lokal councils were implemented. The research question is: In what way was the civil council and the youth council a complement or threat to the representative democracy? In which way was it difficult to implement them?The method used for this purpose is a qualitative comparative case study.

The park at Djäkneberget and its surroundings is a beloved area in the city of Västerås. The area is one of the most popular sites for outdoor life and recreation of all sorts and it attracts different kind of people at different times during the day. The park includes a pond-system where protected species of frog and toad live and breed. These animals have been the objects for many discussions concerning whether to explore the closeby areas or not. The prospected area is situated just next to one of the main ponds and consists of valuable foundationwalls were experts predict that the frogs and toads spend the winter. The municipality has now decided to restore this area to parkland. Because of the areas fascinating history I have chosen to do some research and give a short resume about it. For example are the existing park of Djäkneberget and its founder described together with a short description of the watersystem with the watertower that is situated in the area.

This essay deals with risk management and social risks, which have received increased attentionin recent years. Methods for dealing with social risks, for example within local Risk andvulnerability assessment (RSA), are currently under development. The purpose of this paper is toexamine if and how social risk can be quantitatively assessed and mapped using GeographicInformation Systems (GIS). The definition of social risk that the essay is based on states: "Theprobability of unwanted events, behaviors or conditions originating in the social conditions thathave a negative impact on the objects that are worth to preserve.? A number of social riskindicators that can be used for a spatial analysis have been operationalized based on thisdefinition.

The aim of this essay is to analyze how students are constituted as subjects in local curricula. The theoretical perspective is grounded in Michel Foucault?s notion of governmentality and power/knowledge and his critique of a sovereign subject. From this theoretical perspective I use Foucault?s concept of formation of objects and Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe?s idea of subject positioning as tools for a discourse analysis.

The present project was initiated with the aim to create pattern modules for use in public environments. My intention was to let the properties, of the specific materials used, have a marked influence on the realisation of the final form. I also wanted to find a material, which is suitable from the perspective of sustainabilityand possibilities to create modules from it. The work was initiated with a study of some candidate materials and many sketches before I finally made my choice. My decision was clear after a visit to the company Glasfabriken inKalmar.

A mapping process is ongoing in Sweden concerning a phenomenon known as ?honour related violence?. The explanations of ?honour related violence? often focus on culture and ethnicity, thus establishing differences between the majority society and offenders and victims. Given that some scholars critique mapping for focusing on predetermined objects, my aim is to study discursive conditions for abused girls, who are constructed as being from within ethnic minorities, in relation to their contact with the Swedish welfare system.

There are several methods avaliable to find areas of interest, but most fail at detecting such areas in cluttered scenes. In this paper two methods will be presented and tested in a qualitative perspective. The first is the darg operator, which is used to detect three dimensional convex or concave objects by calculating the derivative of the argument of the gradient in one direction of four rotated versions. The four versions are thereafter added together in their original orientation. A multi scale version is recommended to avoid the problem that the standard deviation of the Gaussians, combined with the derivatives, controls the scale of the object, which is detected.

Background: Companies with a high level of research, such as biotech companies, rarely generates any profit in the begining. Mostly their history is short and their pipelines usually consists of one or a few products only. Significant for the line of business is also a future very uncertain, where relevant objects of comparison are few. Altogether the facts above makes valuation of Biotech companies difficult. Swedish Biotech companies, compared to their american competitors, seem to be of relatively low value.

ABSTRACTIn this study I have analyzed, throughout a gender perspective, two textbooks Den levandelitteraturen and Upplev litteraturen which are purposed to be used as teaching materials inSwedish schools in the subject of Swedish when teaching the history of literature. The intentof this study was to provide a gender analysis of two textbooks and the focus was on thepresentations of female and male writers, because they have not been studied earlier. In thisstudy, a qualitative text analytic method was used to achieve the best results as possible.Theories used in this study were Yvonne Hirdman?s and Raewyn Connell?s theories. Hirdmanclaims that there are differences between men and women at different levels in the societywhile Connell believes that this is a myth because, according to her, men and women arepsychologically alike.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze DVD covers for the genre romantic comedy from the 2000s as a way to obtain patterns and codes provided by the genre. The theoretical framework consists of previous research that analyzed various posters, theories about semiotics, genre, and visual rhetoric.  These theories will help answer the main question and help with the analysis.The objects for observation are ten DVD covers from the genre romantic comedy and a qualitative content analysis is used for this thesis. The movies are from the US and they are all high in Box Office. Box Office stands for how many tickets were sold and how much money a film has earned.

Environmental impact and management of energy is a highly topical issue in today's society. Climate impact must be reduced. The Government has set a target to reduce energy consumption in buildings by 20 % by 2020 and 50 % by 2050 compared to the energy use in 1995.With this in mind, we chose to examine how property owners can work on improving energy efficiency in existing apartment buildings. We also wanted to investigate profitability of different increasing energy efficiency measures and the calculation methods and the risk assessment performed by such investments. To tie in with government objectives, we also saw the possibilities of achieving these goals.20 companies were interviewed, of which 14 were property owners and 6 were consulting firms that works with energy efficiency.

In recent centuries the Swedish Tiled Stove has varied in its design with an aesthetic evolutionary history that has not only followed the architectural and artistic ideals but also the taste in stove design. The heat source has varied depending on the regional traditions and where it was located within the country, but the inside of the construction was of a similar five channel system. The purpose of this paper is to study and compare the design of tile matrices made by Emil Petterson with other Swedish stoves. The following questions will be addressed:What characterized the production of a small scale tile stove workroom during the years 1900-50? Which main styles can be described as Emil Pettersson?s ideal while producing his matrices? And finally, is it possible to study the tile stove matrices as objects of historical and cultural significance, and what difficult methodological issues might occur in the doing of it? To answer these questions I will present the results of the documentation of Pettersson?s tile matrices with detailed historical categorizations and schedules. The conclusion shows that Pettersson as a stove builder and -producer was characterized by eclectic ideals and a design shape based on more liberal interpretations of contemporary trends.