24 years have passed since the Chernobyl accident when radionuclides were spread over largeareas of Europe, including the Scandinavian countries. Today, measurable activities of 137Csare still observed in many Swedish ecosystems.Ants (belonging to the order Hymenoptera) are social insects which collect organic materialfrom a large area around their nests. This study focuses on the 137Cs activity in ant nests andthe cesium accumulation in these nests. The aims were (1) to estimate the 137Cs fall-out in1986, (2) estimate the radiation exposure of ants and (3) find how 137Cs is distributed in an anthill. Seven ant hills (occupied by the species Formica polyctena) were studied near the villageof Hille, situated north of the city of Gävle in central Sweden.

The purpose of this study was to find out how special needs users ' autonomy and influence in their daily routines is described by their assistants. What interpretations of the concepts of self-determination and influence on special needs users' daily routines emerge from the assistants statements and what conditions can be seen? To reach a conclusion, focus group as a method was used. The focus group met twice to discuss this topic. The diamond method was used as stimulus material to support the discussion in the focus group.

The purpose with this study has been to get a previous knowledge about how pre-school teachers look at the impact of the picture book for children and their language development and participation at the age of three to five years. The study was carried through inquiries at a pre-school in a west Swedish urban district. The study proceed from the sociocultural theory which means that children learn by teamwork with other more experienced individuals. The result shows that the pre-school teachers consciously let the interest of the children guide the choice of books. At the same time they push for the meaning of conversation with the children.

The aim of this thesis is to answer whether a group of databases dedicated to selling books or a group of databases dedicated to lending books is more efficient. The measurements used to determine the efficiency of the two kinds of databases are Cumulated Gain and precision in modified versions. The inquiry has been conducted thus that the same 18 queries have been put forth to six databases and these results have consequently been judged according to relevance on a 4-graded scale by five respondents. The rankinglevels have then been merged to one average value per respondent and ranking. These values have then been used to determine CG/iCG/nCG and P@n per query, rank 1-10, per database and per group (the groups being STORE (BUTIK) and LIBRARY (BIBLIOTEK).

Companies spend huge amounts on communicating their brand through marketing. Many of these contact areas where the consumer comes in contact with the brand is con-trolled by the company. The brand image is also affected from outside the company. It can be from users, media, blogs etc.Burberry is an example of a company that got in trouble with their brand image after hooligans where associated with their products. If a company with a brand with a strong image is associated whith consumers that are not compatible with the target group the company wants, there is a risk of a negative affect on the brand image.Our purpose is to investigate and describe the phenomenom when a company brandimage is affected by being associated whith consumers not compatable whith, by the company, intended target group.We have chosen a qualitative research where we use a multiple case study.

Title: Creativity and blockings: Non-musicians? experiences of music making The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the ability of music-making can benefit from and/or be inhibited by extra-musical factors, such as one's own or other people's opinions, criticism, prejudice and values. An experiment was carried out, where 10 nonmusicians were instructed to solve a compositional problem (writing pieces of music to a picture) which had been expressed in two different ways, one of which (A) was intended to block creativity and the other (B) to facilitate the creative process. All subjects also had to answer a questionnaire, where their experiences in connection with the task and their attitudes towards music and composition were mapped. The result was that all subjects succeeded in composing one or more pieces of music, regardless of which instruction they had been given.

This study illuminates one part of the mathematic teaching in school, which is mathematical problem solving in groups. It examines teacher?s and student?s ideas about what conditions it takes to be able to learn in groups. Further on, it studies the importance of group structure when it comes to working with mathematical problem solving in groups from a process focused and/or a product focused learning. Through observations of student groups and interviews with the students and the mathematic teachers, the material has been compiled and analysed under three different headings: conditions for learning in a mathematical problem solving situation, importance of group structure in a mathematical problem solving situation and process versus product.

The aim of this study is to better understand the Swedish concept of ?förebyggande socialt arbete?, preventive social work. I have conducted eleven qualitative interviews with different key persons and skaters, together with participant observation. During the process of analyzing the material I have used Randall Collins´ concepts of interaction ritual chains together with Jean Laves and Etienne Wengers concept of situated learning. The answers could be split up in three areas, first those who regard prevention work as building good things for the future.

The intention of the study is to investigate pedagogues understanding of physical activities in preschool. Should special activities be planned in order to stimulate children´s progress in motor skills? I also want to find out if pedagogues found the acitivities in preschool curriculum which says that the aim is to develop children´s body perception and teaching children how to care for their own health. I have interviewed seven pedagogues and focus of the question lied within motor skills and the joy of movement among preschool children. The result shows that pedagogues regard it to be important to stimulate motor activities and to encourage joy of movement in preschool.

A growing need to strengthen ones position on the market, even as a city in competition with other cities, has resulted in an increasing number of municipalities developing brand platforms. When the city of Umeå developed their platform, they identified decision makers and investors as one of four important target groups.The aim of this study is to explore the portrayed image of the city of Umeå in two Swedish trade journals which addresses the specific target group decition makers and investors in both public and private sector. The aim is also to compare the image of Umeå in the two papers, to the ambition of the municipality, expressed in the brand platform.In order to make the observations as firmly established as possible, the method of the study is a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text analysis. The study draws on the theories of Eli Avraham and Philip Kotler, concerning how to improve city images and how to market a specific city among others. The study shows that the city of Umeå in large extent is portrayed in accordance to the ambition which the municipality expressed in the brand platform.Umeå is displayed as an expanding city.

Knowledge organization is perceived as a central, constituting activity defining the notion of libraries. Critique calling for a new theoretical foundation voiced by active researchers within library and information science concerning the current knowledge organization has been utilized as a point of departure. Specifications concerning a new theoretical foundation implied by these critiques are considered within this thesis and theory found in The Order of Things by Michel Foucault proposed as an alternative theory for understanding knowledge organization as a human science where meaning, value and representation, by which the ordering of things is possible, is acknowledged as a result of human activity and history. Thus meaning, value and representation must be perceived as dynamic. An example of implementation of the proposed theory has been achieved by the use of bibliometrics.

The title: ?Klara färdiga GÅ? can be translated as ?Ready steady GO?, and is ment as a request to start move. In this project I want to invite people to walk more by creating creative, demanding and playful walkways and paths, where the body can be allowed to work just a tiny bit harder.It?s because walking means exercise and fresh air, for free and without spetial equipment. Walking can also be fun, it allows people to stop, change direction and experience things.I think activity should be fun, inspired by children playground my project is a contribution to how adults might stay healthier in a city, where too often healthy activity is solely confined to the gym or sports fields.

According to the National Agency for Education 06-06-2010 are approximately 115 000 students graduating from Secondary School in the year of 2010.Out of these students, we know that thousands of them are hampered by reading and writing disabilities in various degrees. Have these students been given the best support needed when it comes to writing and reading?Compensation may be perceived as a goal for the pupil to catch up with the rest of the educational group or as a vehicle to go round the difficulties. In Sweden, diagnosed dyslexics are not allowed to use speech synthesis, a compensatory technical aid, during the 9th degree national tests.This study?s purpose is to discover if the usage of speech synthesis during the national test of Swedish and reading comprehension might work as a motivation booster for the students and consequently increase their test scores.This is a quantitative study including study including 15 pupils with diagnosed reading and writing disabilities.

This in an essay concerning the use of humor in male communication. Primarily, I have focused on studying how jokes can be used as a sanction for the training of members in a (male) group. I have found great inspiration in Goffman?s thoughts on a social face and the use of humor to protect this perceived face.Initially I started to reflect on men?s reluctance to discuss masculinity and their thoughts about the meaning of being a man. Every time I tried to hold a serious conversation, my male friends made a joke out of it.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how practicing teachers have included their education in their teaching profession. The five teachers who were interviewed expressed that they lack experience in dealing with administrative issues, conflict management, parental contact and how to manage stress. There has been prior research on how teachers perceive their everyday working lives. Those results showed that teachers are becoming stressed by not knowing how to handle certain situations.My results showed that the teachers were to busy so they created their own methods on how to deal with phenomena that the education have not treated or discussed. The interviews were analyzed with the help of two constructivist concept, authenticity and activity .Authenticity focuses on knowledge is created and constructed by everyday situations.