In this thesis I discuss how the western conception of reason is an aspect of power. I consider the western comprehension of rationality to be a masculine and ethnocentric understanding, though by itself acclaimed to be universal. My purpose with this thesis is to analyze how this western and masculine conceptualisation of reason follows a gramscian structure of power, which makes it reproduce itself in the postcolonial project of science.The theory of hegemony and ideology of Antonio Gramsci is central for analyzing the reproduction of the western subject of knowledge. The theoretical approach is also based on the understanding of the Other as essential for defining the identity of the self. My two main objects of study is one text of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, which discuss the problems of representation, and one of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, in which she examines the tendency to neocolonization in certain western postcolonial feminist research.

Scholarly publishing has since the introduction of electronically distributed periodicals seen a time of change, mainly in the STM-business (Science Technology and Medicine). The roles of the three main participants in the publication process; researcher, publisher and library are developing into new directions. Researchers themselves are taking a more active part in the discussion, with the boycott list from the Public Library of Science organization as an illustrating example. Reforms are being launched partly as an economical and efficiency issue, partly as an increasing desire from researchers to maintain the control of scientific end result. This Master s thesis examines how the partly conflicting goals of the participants affect the conditions for scholarly publication in an electronic environment.

The main object for this thesis is to study how students in library and information science at Högskolan i Borås search and valuate documents in the process of writing a paper. The study is based on a series of interviews with 12 students. Our methodology is also based on studies of their final product. The goal of the study was to map out how the students make their decisions during their search process. We studied the students use of search words, relevance judgements and how their need for information changed trough out the writing of their paper.

Bullying is a significant workplace problem, a fact highlighted both by companies, government and social science. The purpose of this master thesis was to examine if workplace bullying is a result of group processes. This is a theory-based master thesis. A search of literature on bullying, mobbing and harassment was done in a database called ELIN, Electronic Library Information Navigator, connected to Lund University and 414 articles were singled out. The summary of the articles were studied and according to a list of criteria, I choose to study some of the articles in more depth.

Problemområde: Idag är användandet av peer-to-peer (P2P) - applikationer såsom KaZaa, ICQ och Seti@home utbrett bland privatpersoner. Användningen inom företag är dock ännu i sin linda. Vi kommer därför i den här uppsatsen utreda om ett eventuellt införande av P2P- teknik i ett företagsnätverk ger några fördelar jämfört med en klassisk Client/Server-lösning. Hypotes: Arbetet bygger på hypotesen: ?En P2P-lösning ger fördelar för företaget jämfört med en Client/Server-lösning? Genomförande: För jämförelsen mellan P2P och Client/Server definierades och jämfördes fem områden: Säkerhet, Användbarhet, Tillgänglighet, Bandbredd samt Utrustningskrav. Slutsats: Inom områdena Användbarhet och Tillgänglighet ger en P2P-lösning klara fördelar, däremot inom områdena Säkerhet och Bandbredd visar Client/Server- lösningen istället klara fördelar. Området Utrustningskrav är oavgjort då det inte finns någon märkbar skillnad på lösningarna. Säkerhetsproblemen är P2P-teknologins akilleshäl och det problem som är mest troligt att stoppa stora investeringar i framtiden om det inte löses. Slutsatsen av vår jämförelse blir sålunda: För ett företag som redan har ett existerande Client/Server-nätverk är det inte någon idé att helt byta system, däremot kan det vara av intresse att introducera en applikation som möjliggör skapandet av så kallade Virtuella Nätverk. För ett helt nytt företag kan skapandet av ett P2P-nätverk vara ett väl så intressant alternativ till Client/Server.

During the late twentieth century, political and societal changes gave rise to an increased interest in performance evaluation in public organizations. This development also affected libraries in the public sector. The main concern for this master thesis is performance measurement in libraries. In this study two different types of libraries are investigated, one public and the other academic. My aim is to find out if and how performance measurement appears in the libraries annual activity reports.

The main purpose of this two year master´s thesis is to study patterns, structures and relations within gender studies when combined with Library and Information Science(LIS). Further aims are to determine the character of student work considering, occurrence, gender and main theme, to study the progress of the intellectual base of gender studies within LIS and to evaluate the use of bibliometrics as a tool for researching the development of a discipline. To achieve these aims, a bibliometric study using both publication analysis and citation analysis, is carried out. The studied material contains student work, specifically focused on gender, from the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) from 1985?2012.

Information handling has been a key issue for different companies for a long time. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is used to transfer different business documents from one company to another. This is done in such way that the information itself is separated from how this information is stored and handled in the companies internal systems. As different companies have different systems there is a need for a standardised format for this exchange. There is a big difference between EDI-systems based on what kind of EDI-standard is used. The most common standard in Europe is EDIFACT, but with increased interest of using the Internet for business communication there is a need for a standard that is adjusted for use over the Internet.

Denna uppsats behandlar svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolags tillvägagångssätt att värdera sitt fastighetsbestånd. Både när det kommer till metod och typ av värdering (graden av intern kontra extern).Vidare undersöks faktorer som står till grund för dessa och hur företagens värdering har förändrats sen en kortare tid tillbaka.Uppsatsen kombinerar analyser av finansiella årsredovisningar från svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolag med ett par kvalitativa intervjuer med några av de högst respekterade och uppsatta personerna i fastighetsvärlden.Analyserna visar på att en majoritet av fastighetsbolagen använder en hög grad extern värdering tillsammans med avkastningsbaserade värderingsmetoder. Även en förändring av fördelningen mellan intern och extern värdering under de senaste fyra åren konstateras och reflekteras över.I intervjuerna jämförs bland annat interna och externa värderingars riktighet och trovärderighet ur två väldigt olika perspektiv. Här tas även problematik upp och skillnader i teori och praktik..

The explosion of new digital media puts pressure for developments within copyright law both in Sweden and internationally. These developments are taking place on two different international areas: (1) WIPO which is a part of the UN family and (2) the EU where a new directive on copyright law is being prepared and probably implemented during 2001. The aim of this thesis is twofold: (1) to study which considerations libraries must make when handling the new digital media both under today's copyright laws and under those which are being developed internationally. (2) What will be the consequences, for Swedish libraries, if the new EU-directive on copyright law is implemented in Sweden? By analysing current copyright laws, international treaties and the proposal for a new EU-directive as well as the national debate the thesis brings attention to a number of central issues for libraries.

This Masters thesis concerns difficulties experienced by Gender Studies researchers in an information seeking context. The aim is to identify, and study the cause of, these potential difficulties by asking the following questions: How do researchers in Gender Studies seek information? What difficulties may arise when information seeking is carried out in Gender Studies? What may be the cause of these difficulties? What does Gender Studies consist of? In order to find feasible answers to these questions, particular attention is paid to the context in which the researchers exist and work. The database KVINNSAM serves as an example of how libraries have tried to overcome barriers in information seeking in Gender Studies. The method used is a qualitative one based on interviews and literature studies.

Vi ser en förändring i hur vi använder applikationer. Från att tidigare varit associerat till en dator och begränsat till ett par operativsystem finns de numera överallt. Fler plattformar innebär att man måste utveckla en applikation till var och en av dessa. Detta gör att utvecklingstiden och kostnaderna ökar och efterfrågan av crossplattformlösningar i form av webbapplikationer har därför ökat. Vi tittar närmare på hur det går att använda sig av HTML5, och övriga tekniker som en modern webbläsare har integrerat stöd för, för att utveckla webbaserade applikationer. Vi tar reda på om det finns några hinder eller begränsningar i detta och om det finns några fördelar i att använda webben som plattform. Resultatet indikerar att med de nya tekniker som är på ingång kan man utveckla webbbaserade applikationer med prestanda motsvarande Java eller C#.

Trading financial securities at stock exchanges and other authorized market places is today a particularly important socioeconomic phenomenon in many industrialized countries. A well functioning securities market is crucial for the economic development in these countries. The modern trading with stocks and other financial securities is characterized by the fact that the majority of the transactions at the stock exchanges are carried out through various intermediaries. The ultimate counterparties that are involved in a securities transaction (the seller and the buyer) are often unknown to each other. The anonymity in the securities trading implies several interesting legal problems.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate changes within four discourses identified in the curriculum material of the Swedish library education in Borås Bibliotekarielinjen dating from 1977 and 1985 and its successor Library and Information Science Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap dating from 1995, 1999. My method used is a text analytic method primarily derived from the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, yet with addition of tools from the critical discourse analysis of Fairclough. By identifying three floating signifiers within the material, i.e information, library, and librarian, and thereafter identifying their fixation, a pattern of resemblance and diversity in the fixating signs appeared between different courses of the curriculum dating from 1999. Hence I could establish an order of discourse consisting of four library discourses, a knowledge organisation discourse, a user discourse, a society discourse and a management discourse. Using this discursive order as a pattern, I could trace these four discourses back in time within the material dating from 1995, 1985 and 1977.

The aim of this thesis is to look for signs of students? understanding of algebra by studying how they make the transition from arithmetic to algebra. Students in an Upper Secondary class on the Natural Science program and Science and Technology program were given a questionnaire with a number of algebraic problems of different levels of difficulty. Especially important for the study was that students leave comments and explanations of how they solved the problems. According to earlier research, transitions are the most critical steps in problem solving.