Social games have become a digital phenomenon over the last few years, affecting a lot of peoples everyday life. This paper focuses on how social games can affect workplace relationships. Through qualitative interviews I investigate how people who play with their colleagues experience the social games and their influence on the social interaction in the workplace. 10 interviews were carried out with people from four different organizations. The findings from these interviews were then put in relation to previous research and existing theories concerning workplace relationships and social games.

Pollen analysis of a peat core was used to reconstruct the last 2500 years of vegetation history, with focus on the impact of anthropogenic disturbance, in Hamra National Park, central Sweden. In addition, analysis of pollen in soil samples was performed in an attempt to locate ancient cultivation plots in the National Park. The analysis of the peat core shows a development of the vegetation that can be divided into four stages of different degrees of human impact: A - virgin forest (c. 500 B.C.-A.D. 1300), B - grazed forest (c. A.D.

In musikklasser (a special musical training which focus on choral singing is offered in the Swedish compulsory school from the age of ten until the age of sixteen) teachers are working in a tradition where conventions relating to singing with children have developed in accordance with the Swedish choral tradition. In these classes, students are trained in large groups, usually around 30 students in one class. Furthermore, one teacher and 60 students is also frequent in schools with two or more parallell grades. In a large choir group, students develop their skill in choral singing, which includes the development of general musical knowledge as well as the development of the individual singing voice of each student in order for the choir to be able to interpret and perform music with a communal musical expression. Thus, the complexity in this teaching and learning setting places high demands on the choir teachers? ability to use appropriate teaching and learning strategies in order to develop the specific musical skill required in a choir.In this study, two choral teachers´ interaction with their choir class were investigated.

AbstractThis thesis is the final part of the Innovation and Design Engineering Programme (180 ECTS credits)at the Faculty of Health, Nature and Engineering Science at Karlstad University. The extent of thisthesis is 22.5 ECTS credits and has been performed independently by Hannes Jernberg during thespring of 2013. Metso Paper Karlstad AB is the task maker of this project, and Arvid Johansson is thecompany Representative. Metso Paper Karlstad AB is one of the world leading developer andmanufacturer of tissue paper machines.In the current situation, the company has developed and patented a power management systembased on a Cross Flow Turbine. The current construction is limited to a paper width of 2.9 meters.The company wants to take advantage of all the opportunities provided by the patents, to develop aturbine solution paper machine with a paper width that is wider than 5.5 meters, and give the abilityto manufacture paper for lower energy consumption which is an important part of the production asit is very energy intensive.Problems arise with the increasing length of the turbine, ultimately resulting in that the deflectionbecomes too big and that the momentums, due to the increased torque the turbine blades breaks.By applying the design process, this work has resulted in a number of potential solutions to theproblem.

The thesis investigates how two of the world?s most powerful international actors, the US and the EU want to promote democracy and human rights. The aim is to compare how the US and the EU work in order to support a democratic development in the world. In order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis a qualitative text analysis was used. Since the aim is to compare the US and the EU I believe this method is beneficial.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers approach communication in their mathematics instruction. The communication involves concepts such as teachers' mathematical language, incorrect answers, and various interaction patterns. In line with this, the study also examines how these types of communication may affect students in the classroom. Furthermore, observations and interviews were conducted with five different teachers in Sweden using an observation scheme and an interview guide. The results reveal that four out of the five teachers use both child-directed and adult-directed language when addressing students at different levels of mathematical understanding.

This essay focuses on how trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation is defined and dealt with in the Nordic countries. Agreements on how trafficking for sexual exploitations should be dealt with is presented in reports and Action plans from the European Union and United nations amongst others. In this essay we will compare four national Action plans made by governments by Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway between 2005- 2011 to each other. Mainly we have been looking at similarities and differences in the different Action plans. The essay is based on Discourse theory and discursive struggle and we have been looking at similarities and differences in how trafficking is dealt with through language.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth.The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated.Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern..

This thesis is about developing a design that provides improved vacuum seal between a lead coating and a plastic coating during plastic extrusion processes of cables. This report is a part of the course MSGC 17 for Bachelor Engineers in mechanical engineering.The work is performed at Nexans Norway AS in Halden where they have a production of high voltage cables for sea-, and offshore industry. A problem they face is that they do not get enough good seal at the attachment to the plastic extrusion machine. They want to achieve a vacuum between a lead coating on the cable and a plastic coating of the cable for plastic extrusion, which is something they do not achieve today. The thesis is thus to come up with a design that provides better sealing against the cable.The work involves a construction part with the phases of product development processes.

The purpose of the study was to find out whether the interaction between mentally disabled individuals and pet positively affects the individual and gives a feeling of well-being to the extent that this might be implicated in the psychologically disabled people?s everyday life in some form of rehabilitation measure. The study is qualitative and builds on an ethnographic design. Data collection was performed through six observations, six interviews and reflections. Interviews were also conducted with relatives and assistants for greater opportunity for follow-up questions, and descriptions of the situation.

This report describes the work process to an interactive movie addressed to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, where Jippieserien is the client. The aim is to explore how multimodal media can convey Jippieseriens message to children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their parents, by taking the users needs into account.It is important to focus on the people who will use the system when designing interactive systems. This project is therefore using the designprocess human-centered design for interactive systems. The process includes four basic elements and provides guidelines for user-centered design. These parts are analysis, prototyping, implementation, and evaluation (Johansson.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the origin of generalized trust. We compare existing theories on trust to determine what approach is more fruitful in explaining the prevalence, or absence, of trust. Our conviction is that trust should be viewed as an interaction, rather than a disposition or a rational choice. The sample is based on the countries of the OECD. In total, five different hypotheses are tested: i) that generalized trust is created by equal distribution of income, ii) that generalized trust is created through monitoring of the state, iii) that generalized trust is created through rule by law; iv) that generalized trust is created when the welfare apparatus is guided by principles of universalism; or iv) that generalized trust is created when the state integrates trust networks.

Denna studie grundar sig i ett uppdrag från Trafikverket med avsikten att undersöka hur enmångfaldsstrategi kan få ökad effekt i organisationen. Utgångspunkten för denna studie är attdet tycks krävas mer forskning kring hur HR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor ochintegrera dem i organisationens alla delar. Syftet med denna studie är således att identifiera hurHR strategiskt kan arbeta med mångfaldsfrågor. Vidare är syftet att visa hur ett strategiskamångfaldsarbete kan bli mer effektivt.Teorier som belyser begreppet mångfald, effekterna av mångfald, strategi, Human ResourceManagement och Strategic Human Resource management kan ses ligga till grund för ettframgångsrikt HRM-arbete med mångfald. Ledarskap, kommunikation, kunskap och att se tillorganisationskulturen belyser teorin som viktiga komponenter för att ett strategiskt arbete skabli mer effektivt och ge effekt i organisationen.Studien bygger på en deduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ metod har genomförts utifrån treindividuella intervjuer och två fokusgrupper.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.

The company Sound Precision has developed a new Line Array loudspeaker system (VHA-40). When using this system, their customers need computer aid to get the best possible sound-quality and control of sound levels for the whole audience. The aim of this thesis is to develop a truly useful sound quality simulator for the VHA-40. The system will help the sound engineers to position the loudspeakers for optimal sound by simulating loudspeaker configurations and visualizing the resulting sound quality and quantity. To solve this a human-centered design (HCD) approach is taken to implement a system that is truly useful for the users, meaning that they will use it more and hence deliver better sound for the audience.