The purpose of this thesis is to study the level of democracy within the European Union (EU). To do so the following issues were examined: How the EU works and the efforts it has made to improve levels of democracy; and the degree to which the EU fulfils the criteria set by Robert Dahl in his theory of polyarchy.The study is based on a qualitative text analysis. The focus of the analysis is documents released by the EU that can be connected to democracy, and human and fundamental rights. The theory of polyarchy proposed by Robert Dahl and Joseph Schumpeter?s theory of democracy are the principal theories applied.

Denna rapport handlar om att använda en trådlös kommunikationsteknik som kallas NFC (Near Field Communication) vid kommunikation mellan en Android mobiltelefon och en NFC-läsare som kallas ACR122U. Syftet med detta projekt är att:Välja en Androidtelefon som har stöd för NFC.Skapa en applikation som skall köras på Androidtelefonen och som skall skicka ett lösenord via NFC.Skapa ett program som skall köras på en dator med operativsystemet Windows 7 och som skall hantera ACR122U.Förklara den insamlade kunskapen i detta dokument så andra lättare skall kunna arbeta med NFC.Följande frågor kommer att besvaras i denna rapport:Vilken Androidtelefon bör användas vid utveckling av en applikation som kan kommunicera via NFC?Vad krävs vid utveckling av en applikation som kan kommunicera via NFC?Aktionsforskning är den forskningsmetod som användes vid sökandet efter svar på frågorna ovan. Detta innebär att forskningen görs genom att läsa om ämnet, genomföra en eller flera lösningar för att hitta en fungerande lösning och sedan dokumentera resultaten. Implementeringen av programvaran på mobiltelefonen genomfördes med mycket hjälp från Android Developers hemsida.

In May 2010 the plans for Malmö?s new Concert Hall, Conference Centre and Hotel were announced publically. The purpose of this thesis was to present strategy for communication in order to gain approval for the new concert and conference center from the inhabitants inMalmö and to incorporate the use of it in their everyday life.Material from the receiver?s as well as the sender?s perspective has been collected from qualitative interviews. Through group interviews we have investigated the general consensus of the inhabitants of Malmö regarding the investment, placing, offered events, expectations as well as how they collected information.

Abstract.In Sweden today, a collaboration was formed between the Swedish Sport Confederation andthe Swedish upper secondary school education. While this process was taking place, theSwedish Sport Confederation also tried to collaborate with the Swedish Academy. However,at the time the Academy did not have any involvement with the former.The purpose of the study was to research when and how the Swedish Sport Confederationcreated a collaboration with the Swedish Education Systems both on a National and Locallevel. I have also done a research on both the Knowledge Society and Elite sport talents tofind out if Elite sport will be affected in any way because of the existence of Knowledge Society,and also the reactions of the sports talents if any. My final pursuit was also to find out ifthe Knowledge Society can bring about a quick change to this silent conflict between theSwedish Sport Confederation and the Swedish Academy.For my study, I have used two different theories.

Before the general election 2006 all of the Swedish parties represented in the Parliament held their political party conference. At each political party conference, the leader for respectively party held their opening speech, a speech that was covered by the press. This essay deals with how the press covers these speeches. Analysing how the different speeches were covered by the press, some tendencies regarding how the press report could be visualised. In this comparison the ?quantitative content analysis? was used.

In this thesis we investigate the level of deliberative democracy in the current implementation of the 24/7 Agency in the local government. We are interested in how the combination of the two seemingly opposing ideals of Demokratiutredningen and the 24/7 Agency is solved. Our analysis is based on interviews with civil servants from three kommuner in Skåne and a schematic overview of their websites. As a theoretical framework we use New Public Management Theory, Deliberative Democracy Theory, and Citizen Theory.We have found that the local 24/7 Agency is initiated and implemented by public servants. Their experiences and worldview is mirrored in both process and result.

Bees are of importance for the global food security. In Europe 84% and in the World 35% of all the agricultural crops are dependent of animal pollination (Winfree et al., 2011:1). In agricultural production there is a huge lack of pollinators (Azien & Harden, 2009). A problem that is widely spread. In Sweden the problem becomes clear when looking at the statistics of the number of bee colonies during the last 20 years, where it has been a decline with 63 % (Statistiska Centralbyrån & Jordbruksverket, 2011).

The governing set of regulations for structural engineering in Sweden used to be Boverket, BKR. However in the beginning of the 21st century a changeover to new regulations, the Eurocodes, started.The transition was completed in year 2011 when the Eurocodes became the mandatory design work policy for all countries within the European Union. The Eurocodes were implemented to simplify and remove potential barriers to trade that may exist when countries have different design rules.  Since the changeover it has been important for all construction companies to update their knowledge base and their design software.When comparing the two calculation processes they seem similar, but there are a couple of differences worth noting.  With the new regulations, engineers will find that the process when designing joints in timber structures has changed.  What used to be a fairly easy and straight forward calculation procedure has now become tedious and time consuming.The objective of this degree project is to present a product, a dimensioning tool that will help structural engineers when computing lateral load carrying joints in timber structures.The degree project is made up of two parts where the first part is the written report describing the background and theory behind load carrying computations. The second part of the project is the actual dimensioning tool which includes several worksheets in Microsoft Excel. The program treats single and double shear connections of the following:Nail jointsScrew jointsSteel plates (thick and thin types) The user can edit the following parameters:Type of plate/ number of shearsStrength class of timber membersMember and plate sizeType of fastenerDiameter of fastenerLength of fastenerYield moment of fastenerkmod and partial factors for design load carrying capacityThe dimensioning tool was created and developed in collaboration with structural engineers at the company Byggteknik AB.

In classic academic social studies of East Europe, terms as Communism and Post-Communism are commonly used to describe the main characteristics of this geographically imagined area. This paper makes a not so frequently seen attempt to apply Post Colonial Theory for the same field. With start point in Post Colonial theoretical writers, the author wants to find a East European Post Colonial version for the internal Europe which will supply tools for a discourse analysis of the European mind map divided into West and East. The material consists of interviews with three Swedish and three Czech officials, all working with European politics in their country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The analysis is carried out with inspiration of Ernesto Laclaus and Chantal Mouffes Discourse theory.

Title: Besparingar inom Barn- och utbildningsnämnden.Seminar date: 29th of May 2009Course: Degree thesis in Business Administration, bachelor thesisAuthors: Amela Smajlovic and Sten SundfeltAdvisor: Leif HolmbergPurpose: Our purpose is to explain the cost-saving process that many municipality organisations face because of the global financial crisis.Limitations: We have limited our study to the municipality of Landskrona and Kristianstad.Method: Our study has a qualitative approach. By using open interviews we have been able to get an open dialog with our respondents.Theory: We have compared with different theories, such as Rombach?s budget-theory and Wildavsky?s role theory.Empirics: The material is based on interviews and conversations with key figures in different levels of the organisations in Landskrona and Kristianstad.Conclusions: The success of a cost-saving process depends on the engagement, awareness and how inclined to changes the persons in the organisations are. Has everybody the willingness to take responsibility fore the organisation and the changes that the surrounding world claims?.

This study examines the equity cost of capital between two periods distinguished by substantial differences in IPO activity. In light of the stemmed IPO flow to the Swedish stock exchange in 2012, this study regards the conjecture that the IPO count is related to the prevailing cost of equity capital for certain periods. By application of the Residual Income Valuation model the cost of equity capital is abstracted from sampled stock prices and compared at two points in time for which extreme highs and lows of IPO activity were observed. Using randomized samples from 1999 and 2012, significant differences between the estimated costs of capital are established. The findings indicate that the equity cost of capital, much as it may help influence, nevertheless plays a subordinated role in the going-public decision..

The main purpose of this study is to take a closer look at how teachers work with writing and to examine some theories on the teaching of writing. Five teachers in two schools are included in order to get an insight in teachers? practical work with EFL writing. This has been done through classroom observations and interviews. The results show that all teachers seem to use aspects from several theories.

The topic of this essay is core value issues, how they are mediated in school and how they are practiced. I am investigating a problem concerning the existential worth of the core values-content for children, or in other words, the difficulty of reconciling the theory of the core values and their practice. This problem is portrayed by two stories. The aim of this work is to investigate how to combine the core values theory with its practice, in other words, make it meaningful. In my essay, I turn to recent research in the field to provide a background to my issue, and hereby further point to my problem.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine how disabled people who receive the shut-in-service in one community define service quality. The purpose is also to examine the shut-in-service and to look at the users' context. Answers are sought to the following questions: - How do users experience the service quality of the shut-in-service? - What kind of service does the shut-in-service offer to the user? - How can the user be described and which are his/her requests? The analysis is based on theory about service quality by Christian Grönroos. The theory makes a distinction between two kinds of service quality, technical vs functional quality, as experienced by the user through the profile of the organization.

The result of this master thesis report describes the advantages and the drawbacks that will arise when implementing an Ethernet based intercommunication system in military vehicles. The report presents a possible solution and describes how different sound applications will be implemented into the suggested solution. The report show that IP LAN in vehicles leads to more advantages than drawbacks. The main advantages are that all kind of media can share the same LAN and that there is a lot of knowledge of this technique in the civil area. The main drawback is about delay.