Our time is characterized by the development of new technologies that facilitate communication between people. The need for Video Mediated Communication (VMC) is increasing because people move to other locations due to migration and global mobility. VMC provides the opportunity for millions of people around the world to ?hang out? and see each other despite the distance in between. The world is "shrinking" because of the Internet and our perception of distance is changing.VMC is becoming increasingly available, in the form of applications like Skype and MSN for mobile phones and computers, and in addition, it?s practically free.The purpose of this thesis is to render a picture of the way in which people use Skype in the private sphere.

As a small and land scarce country, effective waste management is ofoutmost importance in Singapore. In this study the production of biogasthrough anaerobic digestion from the organic fraction of municipal solidwaste (OFMSW) was compared to incineration of the waste. At the momentalmost all of the OFMSW in Singapore is incinerated. Three differentscenarios were compared to the reference scenario (incineration): one with alarge scale biogas plant that can treat half of all OFMSW in Singapore, onewith a medium scale biogas plant about 15 times smaller than the large oneand one with a small scale biogas plant that can treat waste from e.g. ashopping center or a food center.By using life cycle assessment (LCA) the different scenarios were comparedin terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification, eutrophication,energy use and land use.

En fråga som förr eller senare dyker upp i växande företag är beslutet om en introduktion på börsen ska genomföras eller inte och statistik visar på att antalet börsintroduktioner skiljer sig markant mellan olika länder. Tidigare forskning på vad som kan förklara dessa internationella skillnader är relativt begränsad och finns endast i en liten omfattning. Social tillit har visat sig vara viktigt i samhället och en bidragande orsak till att flera ekonomiska och sociala mål uppnås. Flertalet forskare har i sina studier kommit till slutsatsen att social tillit är positivt relaterat till ekonomisk tillväxt. Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att analysera vilka faktorer som påverkar graden av börsintroduktioner i ett land, med speciellt fokus på social tillit. Studien syftar till att öka förståelsen för vilka faktorer som skapar en aktiv marknad för börsintroduktioner.

Denna uppsats handlar om anställningsbarheten hos personalvetare, med fokus på informella kompetenser, i Sverige och Sydafrika. Studiens syfte var att utifrån ett arbetsgivarperspektiv undersöka vilka typer av kompetenser som gör personalvetare, vilkas yrke är att arbeta med personal- och arbetslivsfrågor på företags personalavdelningar, anställningsbara samt hur dessa typer av kompetenser värderas. Vidare var syftet att utreda om det råder en skillnad mellan svenska och sydafrikanska arbetsgivare vad gäller synen på ovanstående. Ur detta formulerades sedan fyra frågeställningar för att konkretisera syftet. Dessa syftade till att klargöra vilka typer av kompetenser som gör personalvetare anställningsbara i respektive land, hur kompetenserna värderades samt eventuella skillnader mellan länderna.

AbstractIn this text the attitudes towards and using of blogs in teaching Swedish toteenagers will be explored. The results are based on a survey made amongst 17teachers and 58 students from all over Sweden. The end results show that theusage of blog still hasn?t found a permanent way into the classrooms, but has anappeal to and is being used by predominantly younger teachers both, male andfemale, with a positive response from students regardless of gender. Theconclusion is that using web tools like the blog is an easy first step for schools toconnect to the digital society of the 21stcentury and take advantage of the perksavailable in the digital classroom.Svensk titel:Blogg + Svenska =Sant? ? Bloggande i undervisningen i svenska.Engelsk titel:Blog + Swedish =True? ? Blogging in teaching Swedish.Ämnesord: Blog, Web 2.0, digitalt klassrum, svenska, undervisning,kompetensutveckling.

Älvdalens Savings Forest was formed in the late 1800's. During this time the country was conducting the first major land reform in Sweden, namely the redistribution of arable land through government action. In Älvdalen people saw an opportunity to form Savings Forest, that is jointly owned forests, where everyone would get part of the proceeds. The yield in the first place would cover were costs to manage and monitor the forest and to the measures to ensure regrowth and improve the forests. You could also use the proceeds to develop the area and make it easier for the population to manage their forest. In early summer, a survey was sent to all the members of Älvdalens Savings Forest.

Facebook is the most widely used social media in Sweden. It allows the user to easily share the latest from their everyday life, their opinions, as well as communicate with their acquaintances. According to the latest poll from the Foundation for Internet Infrastructure, 33% of teenagers in the ages 12-15 spend their Internet time being active on social media. 63% of these teenagers visit Facebook on daily basis.Herein, we examined how Facebook can be exploited as a complement to the education of the mother tongue. The investigation was performed with a questionnaire as well as a test group that has been supplemented with semi-structured interviews. In conclusion, the study showed promising results in the usage of Facebook with the education.

Vår studie har haft som syfte att undersöka hur några elever i år 8 multimodalt designar sin förståelse av utvalda kunskapsområden, med koppling till kursplanerna för Engelska och Moderna språk, genom sin produktion av digitala bildspel. Vi har frågat oss: Hur sorterar och bearbetar eleverna information från olika medier? Hur designar eleverna ett eget kommunikativt innehåll och hur använder de olika semiotiska modaliteter i sin representation av detta? Vilka tecken på lärande kan vi finna hos eleverna genom att studera deras visuella representationer och genom att analysera deras intervjusvar? För att få svar på våra forskningsfrågor har vi analyserat och tolkat elevers bruk av semiotiska modaliteter såsom skrift, bild och layout i samband med designen av bildspel. Vi har även genomfört intervjuer med de flesta av deltagarna. Vår studie visar att dessa elevgrupper använt en mängd resurser för att multimodalt designa sitt lärande.

The development of software was considered until the beginning of the 1990th as a cathedral like product development in closed companies. This way of development changed in the last decade. Open source software (OSS) development challenged this consideration significantly. OSS is produced in co-operation by skilled people, distributed and used by many moral agents. The result, the software itself, can be studied and modified.

The aim of this thesis is to study the private owner structure in the Swedish forestry. This will be done with both a investigation of forest owners in Småland the year 2000 and 2001 and also a statistic research for the private forest owners in Sweden right now and over the years. In Sweden more than half of the total forest area is owned by private forest owner, witch is approximately 22 600 000 ha. Private forestry includes the owner categories private person, ordinary partnership and the estate of deceased persons. The main part of the private forestry is to be found in Norrland but also in the rest of Sweden private forestry constitute a large part of the forestry area.

Dublinförordningen är en överstatlig EU-lag som reglerar asylansökningsprocessen inom unionen och grundar sig på principen om första land. Under uppsatsperioden publicerade EU-domstolen generaladvokat Pedro Cruz Villalóns Förslag till avgörande, som förespråkar en mildare behandling av gruppen ensamkommande flyktingbarn som tar hänsyn till begreppet barnets bästa. Uppsatsens syfte är att problematiserar förhållandet mellan EU:s Dublinförordning och ensamkommande flyktingbarn. Genom en diskursteoretisk analys av Cruz Villalóns förslag har två övergripande diskurser identifierats, dessa kallas i analysen för förstalandsförespråkarna respektive sistalandsförespråkarna. Diskurserna som återfinns i förslaget speglar två alternativa sätt att se på ensamkommande flyktingbarn inom EU:s asyl- och flyktingpolitik.

The release of green house gases and the environmental impacts humans have on the environment are huge and might cause irreversible changes to our earth. Meat is considered to have large impacts on the environment, especially beef meat and therefore there have lately been considerable discussions on the sustainable level of meat consumption and production. The main goal with this thesis is to study sustainable meat production and meat consumption in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Indicators for sustainable meat production and meat consumption were developed and applied on three cases. Interviews were carried out with a municipality in the region that represents the consumer and three beef farmers that represents the producers.

The purpose of this paper has been to identify which modern search functions user of Smartphones are using, why just these functions are being used, and how they have affected the way users acquire information. Modern search functions in this paper means searches that are not based on text, i.e. ways to search for information by other means than writing something into a search field. To identify this, two studies were conducted, one with a questionnaire being distributed with the help of Google Docs through social networks, and one with four interviews with users of modern search functions for Smartphones. The study showed that even though 76 % of Smartphone users are aware of at least one modern search function, only 29% uses one on a regular basis.

The construction of buildings and paved surfaces changes the natural water balance.Precipitation generates surface runoff and storm water instead of infiltrating into the soil.Storm water has come to be considered as a major source of pollution in lakes and streams inthe vicinity of urban areas. Reduction of pollutants in storm water is a key action in order toprotect sensitive recipients and maintain high water quality. Storm water is traditionallytransported by storm sewers to the nearest recipient. In recent years the approach to stormwater management has changed; storm water should primarily be disposed of on site, throughlocal disposal of storm water, LOD. LOD is created by a combination of the function ofseveral smaller local facilities and the general sewer system.

As the 2010 Swedish election was closing in, there was a discussion about how the media represented the different party leaders in a differential and unfair manner. This study aims to identify if there were any differences in how four of these party leaders, Lars Ohly, Maud Olofsson, Fredrik Reinfeldt and Mona Sahlin were treated in four individual questioning sessions on Swedish television. Utilizing conversation analysis the study focuses on identifying differences in the usage of interruptions between the four different sessions. The study also analyzes the aggressiveness of the journalists? questioning and how they designed their questions in the four different sessions.