The purpose of this study was to analyze and develop a workflow for assessing and representing the value of ecosystems to professionals involved in municipal planning. A thorough literature review was conducted and supplemented by interviews and observations. Frameworks for ecosystem service assessments were analyzed and combined with methods in urban planning in order to assess social and ecological conditions. A workflow was set up and methods were evaluated by applying them to a case study in the area Åstråket in Uppsala. Experience from the case study was compiled in order to improve the workflow.Complex assessments were identified and simplified for the method to be useful for practitioners.

Marketers are today confronted with new forms of media and tend to use different strategies to exploit these media. The podcast medium has emerged in a time of changes in terms of media planning. By using stimuli containing identical context with different forms of advertising, this thesis seeks to explore whether ads, sponsorships or product placements is more favourable for an advertiser to practice in the podcast medium. The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in communication effects, such as attitude towards the brand and purchase intention, depending on the form of advertising. Testing if previous research, made on the same format but in different media, is applicable in the podcast medium carries out the study.

Advertisements have become a regular part of our everyday lives. We walk past them on the street; we admire them on the subway and even invite them into our living room in between prime time showings. The reality is that in today's modern times there is no escaping the daily bombardment of advertisement. To distinguish themselves from the continuous noise of the industry, advertisers battle to find unique ways to capture the attention of consumers. But is it possible that some advertisers take their techniques to an extreme in the struggle to be remembered This thesis aims at investigating whether it is possible to offend a consumer through an advertisement due to its extreme simplicity.

The problem being examined is the disturbing noise that is created in an open plan office on a company working with a creative process, such as a newspaper or a communications agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the needs for today for a sound absorber in open offices and create and design a design proposal. The aim is also to develop a marketing material the product proposal. The problem has been broken down into the following questions:- How does the user look at the need of a sound absorber in an open offices solution today?- Does an interior designer apply sound absorbers when they furnish the intended environment? - How can a design that meets the needs that exists be achieved and to speak the user?The study is based on three choice of methods a literature review on selected topics that relate to the topic, an interview with an interior designer to explore how an interior designer applies absorbers in open plan office and finally an extensive survey that treats the user's needs and appropriate appearance for the product proposal.The design process has undertaken the following methods, design brief, requirements specification, functional analysis and sketches to produce the final product proposal.

?If we consume the product as a product, we consume its meaning through advertising? ? Jean BaudrillardSyftet med denna studie är att identifiera och analysera bakomliggande myter om lycka i kommersiella reklamfilmer, utifrån ett konstruktionistiskt perspektiv. Analysmodellen, som bygger på semiotik och neoformalism, genererade kunskap om de olika berättarstrukturerna kring lycka i de undersökta reklamfilmerna. Resultaten indikerade framförallt att berättarstrukturerna om lycka grundar sig i myter som är starkt kopplade till den kapitalistiska ideologin. Studien avser därmed att blottlägga och analysera myter om lycka i reklamfilmer ur ett kritiskt konstruktionistiskt perspektiv..

The ever-changing modern health care environment places high demands on leadership skills. The purpose of this study was to describe the causes that effect leadership within the health care services carried out in a municipality. Data was collected by interviewing four health care managers, three registered nurses, eight enrolled nurses and one auxiliary nurse. A qualitative approach based on a content analysis method was conducted in the analysis of the interviews. Latent content deals with relationship aspects and interpretation of deeper underlying meaning of text.

This thesis was developed as an assignment from Ludosity Interactive where the goal was to develop a copy of the Xbox Live Indie Games-marketplace from the Xbox 360. Ludosity Interactive had a necessity to easily test a game's attractiveness to potential customers using testing people from outside the company in a simulated Xbox Live Indie Games test environment; excluding this developed system there is no other way to do such an analysis without actually releasing the game on the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace and then analyze the resulting sales from the product.The finished system had to be similar to the original system to the degree that a user could see past the interface itself and use the system just as he/she would have used the real marketplace. It also had to be easy to change and add games to the system so that Ludosity Interactive easily could show the games and the data that they deemed interesting for their tests. The final product was developed using C#, XNA and XML together with an Agileinspired development method in combination with Pivotal Tracker. This report describes how this product was developed..

During 2001-2002 a prototype, IMIS (Integrated Mobile Information System) was developed at BTH (Blekinge University of Technology) to demonstrate how mobile IT-systems can be used in healthcare. The prototype was based on the activity theory of Engeström. An ongoing project started in spring 2003. The purpose of the project is further development of IMIS with special focus in the diabetes healthcare. Participants in the project are scientists and students at BTH, ALMI Företagspartner, Blekinge FoU-enhet, Barndiabetesförbundet Blekinge, Blekinge Diabetesförening, Vårdcentralen Ronneby and Vårdcentralen Sölvesborg.

The problem being examined is the disturbing noise that is created in an open plan office on a company working with a creative process, such as a newspaper or a communications agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the needs for today for a sound absorber in open offices and create and design a design proposal. The aim is also to develop a marketing material the product proposal. The problem has been broken down into the following questions:- How does the user look at the need of a sound absorber in an open offices solution today?- Does an interior designer apply sound absorbers when they furnish the intended environment? - How can a design that meets the needs that exists be achieved and to speak the user?The study is based on three choice of methods a literature review on selected topics that relate to the topic, an interview with an interior designer to explore how an interior designer applies absorbers in open plan office and finally an extensive survey that treats the user's needs and appropriate appearance for the product proposal.The design process has undertaken the following methods, design brief, requirements specification, functional analysis and sketches to produce the final product proposal.

Abstract New methods, techniques and tools for the building industry are constantly being developed and improved and launched on the market. The problem in the building industry development is not that the products are not good enough. The problem is instead that the existing construction companies do not choose to use these innovations, instead they continue to employ the technologies they already possess and master. This leads to the fact that the construction industry is, in the public eye, beeing seen as a conservative industry. AquaVilla is a company that basically produces houseboats.

This master thesis has been a product realization process. Having BRIO:s walking cart as thestaring point the purpose was to further develop the principle of such products and at the sametime broaden their sector of use. The final result is to be regarded as a complete solutionmeant as a foundation for further development at the BRIO Company. The product aims tosatisfy the demands and needs of the target group called theon the go parent. Trends, qualityand purchase power are features that characterize this particular target group.The project resulted in a walking stool namedBRIO Circus after its source of inspiration.

This Thesis in Military Technology deals with experiences drawn from the forced introduction of Weapons Station 01, 2009. The work aims to identify the experiences regarding the forced procurement of military equipment to see how they can develop normal and fast procurement of equipment. The main conclusions of  this work, is to achieve greater capability and increase the military utility, are: -          Common objectives and priorities of stakeholders-          Response and joint types shall determine requirements for system-          Ensure an integrated project team also at lower levels-          Engage the integrated logistic support early in the materiel process-          Include Armed Forces staff as early as possible in the testing and validation-          Prioritize work to facilitate the rapid development of decision on use (BOA)-          Provide back up for increased redundancy in the mission area .

The purpose of this study was to examine domestic adoptions in Sweden, and also compare the Swedish adoption system to the Canadian adoption system. I wanted to find out why there are so few domestic adoptions in Sweden, and how it has changed over the years. I also wanted to know why there is such a large difference between Sweden and Canada regarding adoptions.I interviewed five social workers to find out what attitudes the social services have regarding adoptions. My other questions were how the childs best interest is considered when a parent wants to place a child in an adoptivefamily, and which parents decide to place their child instead of keeping it.I found that the social services are reluctant to place children in adoptivefamilies because their main goal is to keep biological families intact. In Canada the social services goal is to provide the child with a safe and stable home.There is no longer any stigma surrounding single mothers and well developed welfaresystems enable most to keep their children.

This study deals with a Swedish company in a food industry that got affected by product failure, which led to consumer trust crisis followed by media and was needed to be managed. Situation had a negative impact on company?s trademark, which acquired long recovery work by the company. Study is following a case example of Findus problems with having horse meat in their meat product that was supposed to contain beef meat. Study aims to research how the company dealt with situation, through crisis communication and recovery strategies.

The aim of this study has been to reach a deeper understanding of how refugee adolescences experience their ethnic identity, particular ethnic consciousness in terms of integration, assimilation and segregation. Further my intention has been to investigate if the adolescences experienced changes in their ethnic identity.   In order to investigate these questions a qualitative method consisting of four interviews were conducted. The study included two young men at the age of 18, and two young women at the age of 17 and 18. Three of the interviewed persons can be defined as refugees, but not the fourth adolescence.