Recently, there have been intense discussions about the humanities and their role in society. Internationally, as well as in a Swedish context, the humanities have been regarded to be in a state of crisis. However, these discussions usually demonstrate a lack of historical perspectives based on thorough empirical research. The notion of a crisis needs to be historicized.In this study, a case is being examined where the relationship between science and society was renegotiated. In the context of World War II, a discourse has been identified in a borderland between science and politics through an analysis of Swedish journals and anthologies during the time period 1937-1947.

The purpose of this study has been to examine different aspects of the professional role of the high school librarian, especially the educational role, and its delimitations to the teacher's role. The methods that were used were studies of literature within the subject area and qualitative interviews with high school librarians and high school teachers of social studies. Andrew Abbot's theory on the system of professions was used in the analysis of the results of the study. The high school librarians who were interviewed enabled access to information, both intellectually and physically. They helped students develop information seeking skills and they functioned as educators and counselors.

The purpose of this enquiry was to study how the rhetoric about immigrants (invandrarprat) influences the interpretation of reality in regards to new swedes. The study was conducted with the help of qualitative interviews with eight new swedes who, apart from their country of origin, by Swedish social standards would be considered average. Two questions were examined for the purpose of this study:1. How do new swedes react to rhetoric about immigrants?2.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how health information is integrated into knowledge in an everyday health related context on the web. The more specific aim is, from a LIS point of view, to map knowledge related discourses with the focus on pregnancy, in discussion forums on Swedish health related web sites. The following main questions in this paper are: (1) a) What discourses on pregnancy knowledge can be found and b) how are they expressed? (2) What are the functions of the recognised discourses? and (3) what are the relations between the identified discourses? The theoretical and methodological starting-point is discourse theory with the main focus on discursive psychology according to Wetherell?s and Potter?s theoretical and empirical work.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how a context-specific form of abstracting of fiction film developed in relation to the cultural policy of Internationella biblioteket IB, theoretically can be motivated and practically shaped. The background of the cultural policy of IB is analysed and theoretical standpoints and problematic aspects regarding subject representation discussed. Theories which claim intersubjectivity as an ideal for subject representation and searches for objectivity in the process of subject analysis are criticised in light of the concept of interpretation as the only means to produce meaning and subjects in relation to fiction. Birger Hjørlands context-oriented theories of subject representation are used to theoretically motivate the context-specific form of abstracting. To suggest how a practical framework for abstracting can be created, film theoretical models of interpretation are examined in relation to the field of subject analysis and formal criteria of abstracting.

Today automatic milking systems (AMS) are growing in popularity. In these systems the cows are loose and have to get to the robot and the feed on their own. The cows ranking in this system affect their welfare. In this study data from seven years in an AMS was used and analysed. The aim was to investigate how ranking could affect the behaviour of the cows at milking and at feeding.

The background to the study was to find out the view of three teachers on students reading comprehension. What strategies and methods are used by the teachers in the classroom when working with reading comprehension? How interaction between teacher and students happen when working with reading comprehension.   The theoretical research approach is based on a sociocultural perspective. Sociocultural perspective maintains that social interaction and cultural institutions, such as schools and classrooms have important roles to play in an individual?s cognitive growth and development.

This paper is a study how students at a high school in Falun, Sweden, estimates theirperformance in an upcoming math test which is then compared with the actual grade thestudent performed. The students who participated also answered questions related to ?risksituations? to examine whether there is a correlation between how students estimate theirperformance in the context and their risk behavior, and if the students act like economicmodels assume. In agreement with previous studies, the boys in the survey tended to beoverconfident in their performance. The girls in the study were neither over- norunderconfident in her performance and no significant difference in the estimation of one'sperformance between the sexes could be proven.

Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Can probiotics prevent atopic dermatitis in children with high risk?Author: Laura Pienihäkkinen and Max OlinSupervisor: Heléne Bertéus ForslundExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 22, 2012Background Allergic disease is today common, this including atopic dermatitis, which is the most common inflammatory skin disease in the world. Heredity has been shown to play a major role in the development of this disease. It is therefore of high interest for both the individual and society to find effective methods for preventing atopic dermatitis in individuals with high risk profile. Probiotics are beneficial for the bacterial profile in the intestine and it is therefore of interest to study if they through their anti-inflammatory effect could prevent atopic dermatitis.Objective The aim was to study whether administration of probiotics to the mother and the child (directly or via breast milk) could prevent atopic dermatitis in children with high risk profile (at least one first degree relative with a diagnosed allergic disease).Search strategy A systematic literature search was done in databases PubMed and Scopus with search terms maternal, prenatal, probiotics, allergy, atopic dermatitis, prevention, and children.Selection criteria Randomized, controlled human studies and original articles in English were included.

Online social networks are a natural part of the lives of today?s western youth. Media and information literacy is a central part of research in Library and Information science and until now there has always been more focus on these subjects in a learning context rather than in an every day life context.The aim of this study is to further examine how adolescent boys value and trust the information they receive via Twitter in their personal lives, and how this effects their view of their environment. The study was done with a qualitative method, where we conducted interviews with six boys who were all born in 1997. The results showed that they knew how to react critically to information on Twitter.

Cultural organizations set on capitalizing on artistic ideas are subject to an industry specific economic condition that requires a balance of art and commerce; two opposites reflecting credibility and non-credibility. Hence, commercialization of the cultural industries implies non-credibility in an industry insisting on symbolizing the opposite.This study aims to demonstrate how cultural industries can attract a wide audience, while maintaining credibility. This is done through the perspective of folksiness since its context indicates the existence of credible commercialism.The study demonstrate that credible commercialism is part of folksiness and is possible thanks to the folksiness context that 1) utilizes attributes that balance and disarm "negative attributes" creating an atmosphere of acceptance and 2) meets the consumer's need fulfilment of identity through individualism and belonging, and 3) contains attributes that increases loyalty..

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study howuniversity librarians in a South African context relate to theconcept of information literacy. We investigated differencesand similarities in approaches to user education andinformation literacy. We have based our study on thefollowing research questions: What are the prerequisites foruser education at the University of the Western Cape? Howdo these prerequisites influence librarians' approaches toinformation literacy and user education at the University ofthe Western Cape? We have used a sociocultural theoreticalperspective and Hofstede's cultural dimensions in orderto pay particular attention to the cultural and social contextof user education.

This thesis investigates how the level of implementation of New Public Management affects an organization?s efficiency. According to theory, a high level of implementation leads to a more efficient organization. This thesis is based on two case studies conducted on two units within Stockholms Stad. One of the units shows a high level of implementation of NPM and a high level of efficiency.

This report is a study in voltagelevel in connection with regeneration of brake energy from the tramtype M31 in Gothenburg.In the act of braking, the tram M31 uses electrical braking where the electrical motors generates energy and if possible send it back to the overheadline, where other trams in the nearby can use this regenerated energy for its own driving force. In cases where no other energyconsumers are located in the same section, there is a resistance witch task is to convert this energy into heat. The regulation of this resistance appears to cause an increase in the voltagelevel into far too high levels.Investigations of the trams regulationequipment and its construction have been done. Further have measurements on the overheadline been performed in order to map the voltagevariations during a longer period of time.The result have been showing that the voltagelevel during regeneration often is as high as 880V-920V, more extreme values have not been observed in a large scale. The values are especially high compared to the nominal voltagelevel.

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) has been considered as one of the most effective marketing tools, yet the least understood. While its lucrative effects have been well proven in academic studies worldwide, little is yet known of why consumers engage in WOM, and what factors actually drive this sought-after behavior, particularly in an online context. While today's research lacks holistic views on the simultaneous effects of multiple WOM-drivers, this paper takes on a meta-analytic approach by building on the pertinent literature to construct an aggregated model, including several previously acknowledged drivers divided into two categories: (1) Brand related drivers and (2) Personal and situational drivers. The authors then empirically examine what drivers are the most influential on WOM in an online social media context. By doing so, this thesis does not only contribute to marketing managers' better understanding of online communications management, it also sheds light on the theoretical knowledge of the behavioral drivers of WOM.