Aim: The aim of this study is to describe which messages and by which rhetorical means were communicated in political TV-advertisement in Finland and Sweden. The study also aims to analyze how the rhetorical choices were influenced by the political and social context in these countries.Material: Two TV-commercials from the latest parliamentary elections in each country were chosen. The leading left-wing and right-wing parties were chosen from each country.Theoretical perspective: This study is based on theories on political parties? vote maximization and the development of the modern electoral campaign.Methodology: The method used in this study is rhetorical analysis.Results: All commercials had similar themes and were characterized by a low level of conflict. This is related to the common Nordic context in the two countries.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on a present trend of professionalization in Swedish local environmental politics, which have recently seen a decline in active participation of the citizens in favor of an increased governmental regulation. With the aim to closer investigate this relatively new phenomenon, the paper is a qualitative single case-study of environmental policies in the Swedish municipality of Karlskrona. In this case, the municipality is obviously balancing between regarding the interests of the national level and the interests of its own citizens at the same time. This motivates the use of system-theory, and relates to the classical political paradox between participation and efficiency which is also a present theme in the paper.This text-analysis based on interviews with personnel and documents from the municipality shows a visible trend of professionalization in the local politics of the municipality of Karlskrona, from a large grade of participation and a strong bottom-up approach in the days of Agenda 21 to now being more strongly top-down defined by national environmental objectives and principally operated on a professional level..

This master thesis is based on a general issue of quality in social services. I have chosen to illustrate through an empirical case, namely the position social responsibility coordinator and shortened SAS.This position is fairly new to the Swedish social services and has the overall mandate to monitor, develop and ensure quality.To study this, I have developed two analytic schemes. One is based on the concept of quality value components, the second is based on the concept of quality character components. These analytical schemes are used as the presented material. When I study mycase, I have used two methods, documents and questionnaires.In this study I will try to describe how new solutions to improve the quality of social services can conform and develop.

In this essay there will be four text books from grade 1 studied, the first one are from the year 1976 and it will be going forward to the year 2012. The aim of this study is to see how the genders are depicted and represented, as well as what roles the genders are given. I do also want to see if there is a notable change in this over time. I will be doing a study based on the quantity of the contents, and I will also be doing a critical discourse analysis.The result of the study showed that there were more gender-based constructions that referred to women in all of the four books, which indicates that women are represented more often in these reading books. It is most common to portray the genders in their stereotypical roles, which again are present in society, but sometimes these roles are depart from what?s present in society.

Due to increasing international competition and new technology IT-consultants has been forced to oversee their business models lately. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the process and consequences of a shift in business model for a consultant by using a methodology based on action research. The empirical foundation consists of a field study with observations, notes, interviews and business related documents. The case describes a consultant?s process of shifting business model from profits based on man-hours to selling a standardized system.

This essay is about how and why teachers use fiction litterature as a teaching method. It´s based on a study among eight teachers in year 4-6 at a school in Mariehamn in the Åland Islands. The results show the high importance of using fiction litterature in education. Fiction literature is highly valued in all subjects as it stimulates the students development of language, empathy and fantasy. The curriculum´s aim of using fiction litterature is to stimulate the pleasure of reading.

This thesis is a queer masculinity reading of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?s short story collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894). The analysis focuses on the dissonances, tensions and queerness that reside within the text itself. This has been done from my problem statement: How is Sherlock Holmes and John Watson?s sexuality and masculinity portrayed within the boundary of the text? What is being said, what is hidden, and what is dealt with silently? To reveal these queer parts this analysis has been focused around five themes: the late Victorian male, the Woman, countertypes and decadence, the homosocial sphere and sexuality.

One of the areas in which current theory on entrepreneurship is ambiguous is in the explanation of how entrepreneurs act when entering a new market. One author that has attempted to contribute in this area is Saras D. Sarasvathy who has tried to explain the entrepreneurs reasoning through the theory of causation and effectuation. The former refers to a reasoning that takes the effect of an entrepreneurial action as given, while the latter looks upon the effects as uncertain, while only the means are given. With a foundation in this theory, Sarasvathy claims that when entrepreneurs enters a new market the level of environmental uncertainty is so high that reasoning based on causal relationships is rendered useless.

The bachelor's thesis is to examine the explanatory factors affecting the choice of capital structure in real estate companies. The analysis is based on data collected from the main financial reporting from 2007; all listed real estate companies listed on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish stock market. Based on previous research and theories, we have defined five independent variables that are linked to the debt ratio, which are: profitability, growth, firm size, cost of debt and operational risk. The statistical tests have resulted in that we can say with certainty that profitable firms tend to have a lower debt to equity ratio. We can also say with certainty that property companies with high interest costs have a high level of indebtedness..

It is important to understand the process of appraisal of a business in order to establish its value. The purpose of our thesis is to establish which methods and models are used when evaluating a business and investigate the factors that may affect the value and price tag of a business. We have used a qualitative approach by conducting both indepth interviews and a survey as well as reading literature within the field. The main conslusion in our findings is that the common practice of discounted cash flow is widely used when bestowing a monetary value for a business, and in order to raise the value a well established customer relationship was the single most important factor. As far as lowering the value, the answers were of such a wide spread that a single factor could not be attributed.

Purpose: To examine the hearing environment for tattoo artists regarding occupational noiseand to see whether tattoo artists are exposed to hazardous noise according to Swedish WorkEnvironment Authority regulations. Method: Using a dosimeter we measured a total ofseven sessions of approximately one hour on seven different subjects, located on five studiosin Gothenburg. As a complement we did also hand out surveys based on twelve questions toexamine habits, experienced sound environment and to see if there were any hearing relatedpatterns. Results:. Sound level measurements showed that the lower exposure action valueLpAeq,8h 80 dB(A) in one case was reached if applied to the average working time of sixhours.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the field ofinformation politics, in the areas of the future regulationof The Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression andThe Freedom of the Press Act. The focus of the study is todiscursively examine how ideas and perspectives ontechnological developments are expressed in a pendingSwedish legislative proposal. The empirical data consistsof an interim government report, SOU 2010:68, writtenby Yttrandefrihetskommittén (Committee on Freedom ofExpression) and analysed using Norman Fairclough'sCritical Discourse Analysis. The analysis is conducted onthree levels: a textual level, a discursive practice level anda social practice level.On the textual level we found that the committeecontinously uses significantly charged expressions todescribe technological development. On the discursivepractice level two discourses were identified.

The purpose of this essay was to study factors that influence some youth to use narcotics. I wanted to increase my understanding and knowledge about these factors. I believe it is good to have such knowledge when you are working with youth who are using narcotics but also for a good drug-prevented work. It is a literary study, which covers the most frequently quoted results in the field of research.The questions for my study were:· Which factors influence youth to use narcotics on a individual level?· Which factors influence youth to use narcotics on a group level?· Which factors influence youth to use narcotics on a society level?My conclusion of this study was that youth often use narcotics because of many different factors and it is youth from all social groups in the society who are testing and using narcotics..

In 1998 a new regional development policy was introduced by the Swedish government. A central feature in the policy was the formation of partnerships at the regional level. The partnerships were meant to consist of local and regional stakeholders, representing a great variety of interests, who would collaborate in order to improve regional development. The new policy was promoted, besides being more efficient, as a way to broaden political participation and to break male-dominated structures.This thesis discusses whether the regional partnership actually favours ?women's interests?, in terms of how the relationship of power between women and men is constituted by the model.

This thesis examines the verification of the terms and conditions stated in contracts based on the Public Procurement Act. In March 2013 the Swedish state procurement commission released " Good Business - A Strategy for Sustainable Public Procurement " (SOU 2013:12), which found that the proportion of control and verification is relatively low. The thesis examine how verification is carried out and looks for an explanation to why verification is not more oftenly performed. To answer these questions two care studies, based on seven semi-structured interviews, is presented as the empirical material. Network theory has been used to analyse the empirical results, and aspects of commonly used theories such as contract management and "Markets and Hierarchies" by Williamson has also been taken into account.