In efforts to strengthen local economies, business development programs are often a way in which governmental organizations and state affiliates try to facilitate innovation and successful entrepreneurship. There is a mutual interest from both the public and private sector that these funds are put to good use. Extensive research has been conducted with the focus of the general effect of public support programs. However, not much research has been done on what external factors affect the situation for receiving businesses. This study attempts to examine whether one specific such factor, the level of maturity on the markets that the recipients operate in, has a discernible effect on the needs for different types of entrepreneurial support.

The objective for this Master?s thesis is to study literary programs for infants at six Swedish public libraries, their relevance and importance for infants and how the infant?s perspective in the program design and implementation is taken into consideration. The questions I pose are: In which way do the programs take the infants need for development and their literary prerequisites into consideration? Which functions can the programs have for infants? I have used a qualitative method, based on deep interviews with six library staff, working with literary programs. A model was developed based upon Daniel Stern?s theories of the interpersonal world of the infant together with Joseph Appleyard?s reading development theory.

Regionalization has become a catchphrase in European countries during the last twenty years with the establishment of the European Union. An ideational development has occurred during time towards emphasing more politicially powerful regions with the idea of new regionalism. Sweden represents a deviant case study, where regions historically have been politically weak and where Sweden has been characterized as a strong unitary state. The aim of this paper is to analyze the political debate in the Swedish parliament concerning the implementation of a stronger regional level (storregioner) during 2007-2010 and to determine if the debate can be characterized as a case of depoliticalization. The theory of depoliticalization have been introduced by Richard Katz and Peter Mair to explain why political parties through external pressure from europeanisation and globalization tend to become more consensual with similar political agendas, leading to a diminished the lef-right scale.

This thesis is about practising on a different level to get an insight to what techniques might work for me as a double bass player. It is about discovering how to use your brain into playing at your best level. I practised both talking and singing to myself and read a lot about thinking and hearing not only the music but every note before playing. The thesis idea came from not having a technique that worked for me while practising alone. I wondered why it is such a difference between what we do at the lessons and what I do when practising by myself..

Sustainable development is a concept that has been interpreted in a multitude of ways in different contexts. This essay argues that the discourse of "ecological modernization" has strongly influenced the way in which the concept of ?sustainability? has been constructed in Swedish environmental policy. This interpretation of the concept of sustainability offers the possibility of combining economic growth with ecological sustainability which stands in contrast to the assumptions of Deep Ecology and Green Theory. The aim of this essay is to explore how the concept of sustainability is being formulated in environmental policy both on a national level and in the city of Malmö.Considering these issues in a specific context, this essay focuses on city planning that is as an important instrument to promote urban sustainability both on national and local levels.

AbstractHomework is often debated in the media today. The question is about the meaning of homework and whether the students benefit from it or if homework is just a remain from an old educational system.The research made on the subject disagrees on what positive/negative effects the homework has on the students.For my essay I chose to find out what attitude junior-level teachers have towards homework. Why give students homework? How do you work with home assignments?My research is based on interviews with six junior-level teachers that either have or do teach in the lower grades (1-3).The result I reached was the all of the teachers used homework in their education.The purpose of the home assignments is partly to give the students the possibility to rehearse and fortify their knowledge, especially when it comes to learning how to read.Another purpose of the homework is that it helps to maintain a good connection between the home and school. It is also a good way for the parents to get an insight and be a part of their children?s work.The conclusion of the research that I made is that if homework should exist in the educational system they ought to be well prepared by the responsible teacher..

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to gain insights into students? usage and attitudes towards electronic articles and electronic books and how students feel about a change from print collections to digital collections at Växjö University Library. The main questions are: How do different groups of students use the library collections of electronic articles and electronic books? What factors influence the usage of the library collections of electronic articles and electronic books among students? What are the students? experiences of reading electronic books in comparison with reading print books? What would different groups of students think if the literature they need for their studies were purchased in electronic form instead of print? To answer the questions a user study was carried out at Växjö university library. A web survey was sent to students that had a library card and an email address registered at the library.

During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils had difficulties with mathematics. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in Mathematics during my training to become a qualified teacher, I would like to get to know more about this.After studying research done on this subject I made the following approach to the problem:? What fields regarding Mathematics do the pupils themselves find most difficult?? What factors have been contributory causes to these problems?? What are the factors that have helped pupils with difficulties in Mathematics to reach the goals for the syllabuses in Mathematics?The answers to my questionnaire and interviews resulted in the following conclusions:? Pupils find theory of equation and conversion of units as most difficult at senior level of the nine-year compulsory school.? Teaching should be done in special instruction groups to give the pupil the opportunity to develop his/her skills on an individual level.? Pupils find it hard to deal with all moments in Mathematics during the time given for each course.? The pace for teaching Mathematics is too high according to the pupils.? Pupils wish for instructions on a lower level.? There is often a lack of contact between teacher and pupil.? The teacher should use more time to help the pupil receive good self-confidence and increase the motivation for instructions in Mathematics..

Regionalization has become a catchphrase in European countries during the last twenty years with the establishment of the European Union. An ideational development has occurred during time towards emphasing more politicially powerful regions with the idea of new regionalism. Sweden represents a deviant case study, where regions historically have been politically weak and where Sweden has been characterized as a strong unitary state. The aim of this paper is to analyze the political debate in the Swedish parliament concerning the implementation of a stronger regional level (storregioner) during 2007-2010 and to determine if the debate can be characterized as a case of depoliticalization. The theory of depoliticalization have been introduced by Richard Katz and Peter Mair to explain why political parties through external pressure from europeanisation and globalization tend to become more consensual with similar political agendas, leading to a diminished the lef-right scale.

The purpose of this paper is to find out if technology within pedagogy can help pupils with dyslexiaperform on the same level as their peers without using compensatory aid. Is it possible to replacethe compensatory aids with the technology in question? Can the same technology also be used tosupport other pupils as well and in turn removing the stigma of needing compensatory aid?To learn the answers to these questions I have done a qualitative text analysis. This analysis focuson technology in the form of podcasts and Web 2.0 based teaching platforms. The analysis alsofocus on pupils with dyslexia and what kind of help compensatory aids can be.

The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers practice Arne Tragetons theory of using computers as the first writing instrument in reading and writing development. We wanted to clarify how the work from using Tragetons theory was applied while investigating if and how other methods of reading and writing instruction were used. Our interest lays in how the teachers accomplished the knowledge of this theory and also how the choice of this approach came about. To investigate this we used interviews with a qualitative nature, where seven active teachers were interviewed. They worked in three different schools in years one to three, they were all women and had various long experiences of work on the computer writing tools.

This thesis is covering my design of an architectural object for the use in a pedagogical setting. The purpose is to create contextual premises for students, making possible the testing of designs, involving plants suitable for the urban environment. Hence, the main features in the object design is suggestive to the urban outdoor rooms - rooms that are formed amongst the city facades. The thesis is also about the design process set out from a technical reality, based on camera imagery. To a large extent, the thesis consists of reflections concerning the object's function towards pedagogy, perception and materials. Furthermore, the object claims to be a hybrid between architecture and landscape architecture.

Background: During the last decade physical activity among Swedish adolescents has decreased. Changes regarding physical fitness can also be seen, for instance the cardio respiratory capacity has decreased mainly among young men while muscular capacity has decreased in both genders. Physical inactivity and impaired physical fitness are both important health related parameters. 18-year olds have fulfilled their physical development and are physically on top of their development, it makes this group interesting to examine. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate differences between physically active and inactive young men and women, concerning cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular fitness and balance.

The Syllabus for Swedish Language and Literature for Elementary School includes literatureand multimodal texts, such as web texts. From a Swedish educational perspective, it isimportant to consider the students' experiences. This study examines a couple of ten year oldsexperiences of literature, film, and social media. It also examines how these medias are usedin School according to the pupils. The theoretical basis for this research is based onhermeneutic phenomenology and the concept of life-worlds.

This study is based on a statistical analysis of fundamental key ratios on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2004-2012. In total 35 financial ratios of 90 companies were tested, ultimately five ratios remained within the 5% significance level. These ratios were ROA, P/B, Total Yield, EV/EBIT and Operating Margin. A custom made investment model was created based on the purpose to achieve a risk-adjusted excess return. The results in general did not show any significant difference in return between the model's portfolio and index.