With the increased significance of information technology (IT) in today?s society the term ?electronic democracy? (e-democracy) has gained much importance within the democracy theory. Naturally, there are several competing views on how the technology should be used for democratic purpose. One aspect of this is the somewhat revitalized claim for direct democracy in accordance with the hypothetical opportunity to finally realize it as a democratic system. The ideal of direct democracy combined with the almost total credence in the potential of technology constitute the idea of a ?push-button democracy?.

This master thesis examines online reading groups with swedish participants. The aim is, by way of introduction, to investigate what kind of online reading groups that exist and how they work. The overall question of the thesis is: how do a conversation about books on the Internet look like? The theory used is Grounded Theory and this is a methodology which has influenced the hole structure of the study. Grounded Theory apply that issues and hypothesis must be created from the collected material, and the author collected for this reason material in the form of survey answers, email-conversations, blogmaterial and articles to draw up exact issues based on this material.The material was sorted into four different categories; social reading, reading fellowship, virtual freedom and anonymity and the issues were formulated according to this categories.

The aim of this paper is to get a deeper understanding if research about international relations has any practical meaning. The main focal point is about the importance of the scholar idea soft power, and its meaning on foreign policy actions through expressions. A quantity and quality method is used. The point of the main theory that concerns international relations takes a rationalistic perspective, and expands it to the notion that ides can have an impact on policy outcomes. Three different types of research utilization can be traced to determine in which way an idea is getting implemented.

The Swedish Parliament has decided to increase the share of electricity produced by wind power. The same parliament has decided that the Sami have the right to herd reindeer over 50% of the country's land area. In this literature review the potential impact wind power development and associated infrastructure may have on reindeer husbandry conditions are examined. The unique physiology of the reindeer enables it to live out of grazing in the arctic climate in the north of Sweden. For reindeer husbandry to be long-term productive and sustainable, it is important that there is enough land for grazing. The research available on how reindeer are disturbed by human activities such as roads, mines, hikers, etc., clearly indicates that the reindeer avoids areas close to such disturbance.

The purpose of this literature study was to describe the seasonal reproduction in sheep and the presence of genetic variation in fertility traits. Methods to induce oestrus are described and the possibilities to change the reproduction season through breeding are discussed. Sheep have a pronounced seasonality in their reproduction. Mating season starts in the fall and the lambs are born during the spring because this is the most beneficial time. The market request for lamb meat has increased and therefore it is desirable with ewes that could get pregnant all year round.

The agricultural sector is currently highly dependent on fossil fuels, with diesel beingmost prominent. There are however both historical and modern alternatives thathave not been subject to enough evaluation to disregard them as suitable alternative.This report aims to theoretically investigate the feasibility of converting aconventional diesel driven tractor to run on electricity, delivered via a cableconnected to either the main power grid or on-site electric production, such asphotovoltaic. Delivering electricity to the machine via a cable is a method withhistorical roots in the early 20th century and in the present day mining industry.The economic and technological potential of the technique are evaluated, along withthe examination of several different motor powers, voltages, losses and constructionideas. The report finds the technique to be both possible as well as long termeconomically and environmentally beneficial. To realise this method however, somedeviations from the present methods of agricultural farming must be made,considering the more advanced driving patterns, the limited mobility and therequirement for extra driver awareness.

The term socken ? comparable to the English term parish ? refers to a historical geographical entity found in rural areas of Scandinavia. This entity presents a multi-layered understanding of the local rural area and is in this essay conceptualized as a place. The concept of place is central to geographic work but it is also a contested term ? discourses within the field of geography present different perspectives on place as a geographical concept and our understanding of it.The history of parishes goes centuries back.

This thesis focuses on the problems involving immigrants and their voting behaviour in Sweden. We presuppose that immigrants vote in a far less extent than Swedish citizen according to general statistics. We try to explain and give solutions to this problem. To our help we use both integration theory focusing on multiculturalism and electoral participation theories.Starting off in these two theories, we have further analyzed a number of policies issued to solve the participation dilemma. The policies were issued in order to elevate the socio-economic standards, inform citizens and close the distance between voters and politicians.Our results show that what work best is long term ventures aiming at integrating immigrants to the Swedish society.

The Swedish building stock accounts for nearly 40 percent of the total energyconsumption in the country. Properties built today are likely to last for 100 years orlonger. This places high demands on long-term and smart energy solutions that willkeep the future Swedish building stock energy consumption at low levels. This thesishas focused on examining how the energy performance of buildings is affected bydifferent choices of window types in different cardinal directions. The objective wasto obtain a basis for recommendations on how window properties can be optimizedfor different types of buildings and orientations.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a phase in the digital revolution connecting computing devices with each other bringing along new business opportunities for companies. Although being a fast growing field it has not been researched to any greater extent, particularly not within the academical literature. Consequently, information on how M2M can affect organisations seems strongly needed. This thesis uses three perspectives, derived from already recognised business benefits of M2M, as an aid to select proper theoretical tools to investigate the phenomenon. The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge of how an M2M adoption affects a firm?s organisation, customer offerings and customer relations.

This essay examine how temporal claims (past, present and future) are used in two Official Government Reports (SOU) in Sweden considering rape and sexual assault. The Official Government Reports constitute an important and particular system for long-term planning, and the reports are used as an instrument to achieve desirable changes within the nation. The temporal pretensions in SOU 1976:9 Sexual offences: proposed new wording of Penal provisions against virtue, and SOU 1982:61 Rape and other sexual assaults, are analyzed in relation to the concepts realization of the possible and actualization of the virtual, in order to see how the concepts correspond to the process of desirable change in the reports. The temporal claims are used in a spatially sense where space is assimilated to the concept of time which in return create notions of spatio-temporal images of the past, the present and the future. This is partly a problem for the reports in their aspiration to transform old norms and create innovatory values and ideals..

Since the year 2005 listed companies are supposed to use international accounting standards when they set up their group accountancy. One thing that has changed with the new standards is the accounting of goodwill and long-lived intangible assets. Earlier companies were supposed to write of their goodwill during the years they had expected the extra profit to arise. According to the new regulation, an impairment test shall be done annually, as well as when there is an indication of decreased value. According to IAS 36 point 134, the company shall provide information in their accountancy about the impairment test.The aim of this study is to find out if some companies may be willing to reveal less information in their accountancy, and if there are any factors that affect this.

Durban, South Africa?s third-largest city is a socially segregated post apartheid society, struggling with high unemployment and AIDS. The city becomes even more complex with a changing climate, creating an influx of people to the city, putting scarce resources under further stress. Warwick Junction, an important transport hub in the centre of Durban, holds a large site of informal trading alongside the formal markets. This informal sector generates large financial flows and provides for a rapidly growing population. The aim of this thesis is to develop an approach that is realistic and relevant to planning and design of an urban context in South Africa.

The concept of brand equity emerged inthe eightiesto justify the long term value of marketing investments. Brand equity signify the value that a brand adds to a product and is the result of the marketing of a brand. One of the most widely used strategies to enhance brand equity is to do a brand extension, which means that a firm uses an established brand to introduce a new product to the market. At worst, a failed brand extension can damage the brand equity, which Vinjamuri (2008) claims that the brand Axe is currently in danger of doing. This January Axe launched an extention including products for both men and women for the first time and Vinjamuri claims that this can disappoint Axe´s former target group (men between 14 and 27 years old) (Newman, 2012). In this thesis Axe´s brand equity among the extensions target group (men and women, age 14 to 27) in Sweden is studied to find out if the brand extension is likely to affect the brand equity in the target group.

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.