Research indicates that a more hands-on education in mathematics could Improve how students relate to mathematics. Laboratory mathematics is a way of making mathematics more concrete.  How is the purpose of laboratory mathematics perceived? This thesis has its focus on the pupils? perceptions of the purpose of laboratory mathematics, but the intention of the teacher involved is also investigated. The main research questions asked were:What is the teacher's definition of laboratory mathematics?Which is the teacher's purpose in using laboratory education?How do the students perceive the purpose of the laboratory teaching of mathematics?To answer the questions, I conducted a series of qualitative interviews.

This case study explores the question of implementation and steering in a society of governance. As an empirical example, a reform concerning the reception of separated refugee children in Sweden is used. As of the 1st of July 2006 the responsibility for providing housing for separated children lies with the local governments rather than with the Swedish Board of Migration, aiming to Improve the children's situation. However, implementing this amendment has turned out to be a harder task than expected. Traditionally, the relationship between state and local actors is seen in terms of state steering or local self-government.

This bachelor thesis explores the conditions for a harmonized EU gender equality policy. Recently the maternity leave directive has been introduced by the European commission and seeks to Improve the conditions for pregnant workers. The controversial subject of this maternity leave has illustrated many of the problems connected to the development of a social dimension in EU. First of all, the debate concerning the maternity leave directive in the European Parliament has shown that both sides in the parliament seem positive towards creating legislation in this matter on EU level. However, parties at the right tend to disagree to many of the amendments in the proposal, such as the maximum entitlement.

Background: The population of the world is getting older and in the year of 2020, 1.2 billion people will be 60 years or older. A common health complaint affecting the quality of life in elderly persons are sleep difficulties. Physical activity is claimed to Improve sleep quality and the maintenance of a normal circadian rhythm. Several studies have shown positive effects of physical activity on sleep quality, still the evidence of physical activity as sleep-promoter is insufficient. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between physical activities and sleep quality in persons ?60 years of age.

Alstom Power Sweden AB in Norrköping isexpanding their business in the presentsituation and has implemented aprocedure for reverse engineering as apart of this work. Reverse engineeringat Alstom is an extensive procedurethat is calculated to be performedunder very time demanding conditions.This thesis is a continued exertion ofthe implementation process in order toidentify and describe the mostimportant process steps in purpose to beable to manage and Improve theprocess.This thesis was written with twoprimary objectives. The first was todescribe and map out the procedure torecreate technical data of a turbineblade, based on a validation of thereverse engineering process that hasbeen performed at Alstom in Norrköping.The second purpose was to describe thekey factors to achieve successful usageof reverse engineering that have beennoticed in the literature study.The work is based on a literature studyon the subject reverse engineeringwhich produced the theoreticalknowledge of the method to reproducetechnical data to a product. Theliterature study has also led to adescription of reverse engineering froma legal perspective to clarify how farit is allowed to apply the methodaccording to the patent laws. With theliterature study as support and furtherhelp and guidance from individualswithin the reverse engineering unit atAlstom, a complete picture andunderstanding of the process has beenproduced and documented..

The purpose of this study was to examine the routines of performance related pay systems in two Swedish municipal upper secondary schools. A second purpose was to examine what data was included for evaluation of a co-worker?s performance and how a principal collects data. The purpose was also to examine a principal and teachers´ view of performance related pay systems and if it was possible to note an agreement. Principals have been interviewed and teachers have answered a questionnaire to fulfil the purposes of this study.The study shows that the municipality had a good routine that included individual discussions with co-workers about their salary and had fixed municipal criteria.

The objective of this study was to contribute with suggestions of nature preservation managements of selected forest objects of high nature values managed by the Swedish state-owned forest company Sveaskog. Many forests with high natural potential are relatively rare today due to modern forestry, where wood production is the main purpose. Sveaskog?s policy is to consider and to priority nature conservation on valuable objects. This assessment includes objects that in the future may develop into nature reserves.

The purpose of this thesis has been to develop a tool for modelling and simulating the nuclear plant Ringhals 3. The model should be used to Improve the knowledge on the dynamics of the plant. Ringhals 3 is being upgraded to produce more power and a tool for analyzing the new operating conditions is needed.The work in this thesis has consisted of improving and developing an existing model of Ringhals 3 made with the modelling tool Dymola. The model has been validated by comparing the results of a simulated house load transient with data from the actual plant. Validation shows good agreement with data from the real plant.

The purpose of this thesis has been to develop a tool for modelling and simulating the nuclear plant Ringhals 3. The model should be used to Improve the knowledge on the dynamics of the plant. Ringhals 3 is being upgraded to produce more power and a tool for analyzing the new operating conditions is needed.The work in this thesis has consisted of improving and developing an existing model of Ringhals 3 made with the modelling tool Dymola. The model has been validated by comparing the results of a simulated house load transient with data from the actual plant. Validation shows good agreement with data from the real plant.

The aim and purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the effects of affirmative action as a tool to Improve the equality of the sexes in a male dominated organisation such as the Swedish armed forces. The study takes a qualitative approach, using feminist theory as a point of departure. Primarily socially based differences between men and women are identified and the resistance towards change is taken into account.To understand the impact of affirmative action I have observed the political debate on the subject and contrasted it to the ongoing debate from within the armed forces. Extensive interviews have been held with both men and women from varying ranks and ages to understand what the overall opinion of the method is.My results show that there is a widespread animosity towards affirmative action as a method of improving equality. Both in the political debate and within the organisation in question.

The so called democratic deficit and the lack of legitimacy have been at the core of the EU-debate in the last decades. Low turnouts in the elections for the European parliament and disapproval in the ratification processes of the latest changes of the treaties are examples of the citizens lack of confidence for the EU and continuous integration. In Nice 2000 the heads of the member states governments agreed to try to Improve the democratic legitimacy in the EU and initiated a public debate aiming at proposals for changes in the decision making processes in the EU. In July 2001 the commission published a white paper with their view. A fundamental presumption in discourse theory is that language and language usage not just is a way to deliver information about ideas and behaviours.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to illustrate the public librarian. People in general, including library users and leading personalities in the field of culture in the communities do not know the tasks of the public librarian. We presume that the vague picture of duties of the public librarian might cause problems. In this dissertation we mean to examine only public librarians, hereby we exclude for example, university- and company librarians. The sentences of this thesis are: How are the public librarians viewed, in meaning of, tasks, role/-s, comptetence/-s, status and image? And can we call it a "profession" in the classical sense? We answer these questions by using relevant literature, interviews and conference paper.

Background: Several patients wish to die at home and relatives often become thecaregivers. This task can be a burden and the opportunity for the patient to die at homecan be overshadowed by obligations and responsibilities. Participation of relatives isoften the prerequisite to offer palliative care in the home environment. The purpose: The purpose of the study was to illuminate relatives? need of support during palliativecare in the home based care.

Environmental issues is now taking a growing place in society and to ensure that companies meet public expectations and do their part in working towards a sustainable development, environmental management system is said to be an effective tool (Almgren & Brorson, 2009).This case study has examined a company's environmental management system in order to find strengths and weaknesses within the ISO 14001 system. The work was carried out using interviews, document reviews and analyzes in which the three main concepts control the report ; "daily work", "audit" and "environmental aspects".The results shows that the daily work looks different depending on where you are; in the production or at the office. The audit examined all documents related to the environmental management system and the study showed that the biggest strengths was the commitment and waste handling while areas such as environmental goals and management review needed Improvement. As a result of the deficiencies identified, suggestions for Improvements was proposed. The investigation of the routine of the environmental aspects showed an incomplete routine where the red wire from identification to evaluation was missing.

A Social Enterprise is a business that features a mixture of characteristics that originates from the third and private sector. A general conception of Social Enterprises is that they aim to Improve social welfare by the use of sustainable business models. The mixture of social and business features has created ambiguity about how to define Social Enterprises. The purpose of this study is to clarify Swedish Social Enterprises as a phenomenon and to examine antagonism that arises from mixing the two different sets of organisational characteristics. This is achieved by conducting a qualitative study of ten Swedish companies that the market considers to be Social Enterprises.