AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine how individuals, part of a rural Christian parish,express their religiosity and beliefs in a Swedish context. Furthermore this study seeksto understand these religious expressions through different views on social construction,secularization and the privatization perspective, such as lived religion, in particular. Byusing qualitative interviews with 8 individuals analyzed with the theories mentionedabove my results show that secularization has provided many individuals with aChristian identity, however, not necessarily a Christian faith. Instead several of theparticipants show a self-developed religious expression not automatically connectedwith Christian religious practices. One of the participants has, despite a Christiansocialization, developed a non-religious identity.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine the function of public libraries on the social web, focusing on reading promotion and reading stimulation. For an understanding of the larger context regarding public libraries on the social web, we conducted online interviews via email with people in the Swedish library profession, together with a content analysis of various texts on the subject found in library journals and on the Internet. Furthermore to identify the public library's practice on reading promotion and reading stimulation on the social web, we did interviews with librarians at a public library on their use of a blog for this purpose, together with a questionnaire handed out to the library's users on their use and conceptions of the blog.The conceptual framework of this study consists of four key aspects in the theoretical and empirical definition of Library 2.0 presented by Holmberg, Huvila and Widén-Wulff. The results showed that the public library can create a substantial value through its use of the social web, but it?s necessary to have a clear vision of the desired outcome.

The aim of this paper is to apply Robert N. Bellahs theory of civil religion, within a Swedish societal context. Bellahs theory was designed in, and influenced by American culture. Therefore, the ?translation? of Bellahs theory does not come without problems.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an unconventional model of agriculture expected to contribute to a more sustainable food supply and a sustainable landscape; the development of rural areas; a stronger relationship between producer and consumer and a healthier diet. This study, with a focus on food production and the link between the producer and consumer, describes the origin and current development of CSA in Sweden, including the prerequisites for CSA in a Swedish context. Organizations and entrepreneurs working with CSA and related projects are identified and interviewed. The notion of CSA in Sweden is still in its infancy, but a rapidly growing interest currently can be detected. The fact that the identified CSAs are found in different Swedish regions with variations in degree of urbanization and intensity of agriculture indicates that the prerequisites are there for the concept to grow, both in rural as well as urban areas.

This qualitative research study aims to investigate how eight members of the Society of Friends (also known as Quakers) experience a divine presence in their Meeting for Worship. The purpose is also to find out how their identity as Quakers has been created, and to see how they look at their Meeting of Worship when it comes to ritual as a concept.The method used in this study is individual, semi-structured interviews and observations of Meeting of Worship. The results show a relatively homogeneous group of individuals from a secular upbringing who as adults sought out a community where silence is appreciated and used to achieve an experience of a divine presence. Berger and Luckmann's theories of socialization have been applied to the results and the discussion reveals how the secondary socialization has been essential in the process of forming the individual into being a Quaker. There is however one exception, in the form of one participant who grew up in the Society of Friends.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relation between different kinds ofremedial teaching models, not specifically addressed to pupils with physicaldisabilities, in the Swedish school context, and to describe and analyze theobjectives related to each model. Research focus was held on professionaldescriptions of school related problems and arguments for different kind of models,but also on objectives formulated in Swedish school policy. As theoretical toolswere used discourse analysis and interpretive policy analysis. The concept ofalienation as it appears throughout Foucault?s work was also used to understand howdifferent knowledge fields as education, special education, psychology and medicinedivide themselves from each other.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

This thesis explores how participants and leaders in ?Alpha?, an introductory course to the Christian faith, relate to and practice faith in Sweden. Sweden has often been viewed as a secular country where religion has been seen as irrational, outdated, and as something that belongs to the other but not to the self. Through the eyes of Swedish Christian practitioners, this study explores what kind of relationship my informants have to Christian faith and God while also exploring how living in a secular or post-secular context affects their way of believing and interpreting God and the stories written in the Bible. Furthermore, understanding of the Bible is viewed in the light of the concepts ?mythos? and ?logos? which highlights where Western explanatory models fail to explain and understand mythological stories.

AimThe aim of this study is to through managers in eldercares deskriptions of the systematic qualityleadingsystem examine the implementation process of this system in the eldercare in the municipality of Halmstad.  BackgroundIn this paper the background explains elderly care and social work context, leadership in change and implementation processes. The theoretical frame illustrates Vedungs implementation theory and Webers model of bureaucracy MethodTo collect empirical data for this study, a qualitative research design was used in which eleven managers within Halmstads municipality home care management stood as respondents. ResultThe respondents highlighted a variety in the use of the systematic quality management system tool. The result describes that several obstacles were experienced in the use of the systematic quality system. ConclusionBased on the descriptions the respondents gives of the implementation process of the systematic quality management of Halmstad municipality home care management, the conclusion can be drawn that the implementation process has not resulted in the employees making use of systematic quality management in practice. The systematic quality management system that will ensure the quality of the care work is thus used to a limited extent..

Denna studie handlar om individanpassning av informationsåtkomst och syftet med studien är att underlätta för utvecklare som ska ta fram nya, individanpassade lösningar för webben. Denna studie koncentreras till Skatteverkets webbplats. Studien försöker hitta svar på frågan om aktiv individanpassning gör att det blir lättare för användare att hitta vad de söker. En prototyp med en aktiv individanpassning har skapat och sedan jämförts med Skatteverkets webbplats. Detta har gjorts med hjälp av observationer och en tillämpning av tänka-högt-metoden.

The purpose of this study is to find out how clergymen in the Church of Sweden understand their role as pastoral caregivers, in a context of a society that has changed quite a lot during the past decades. The study is based on interviews with four clergymen, two men and two women in the ages of 40-65 with experiences from congregations of different social and geographical kind. The interviews are analyzed in themes. When analyzing the interviews identity and role theory is used as a tool, but also the idea of a postmodern society and metaphors for the different kind of roles a pastoral caregiver can take during counseling.The clergymen meet a broad range of people in counseling, both those who regularly attend church activities and those who are complete strangers. They are all focusing on the needs of the confident.

The main subject with this master thesis is to take a closer look at university libraries specially Gothenburg University Librarys operation of marketing the librarys user contact, how it receives various users demands and carry out the interactive and strategic marketing. Marketing is planning, structuring, implementation, analysis and controls of carefully formulated programs, designed to bring voluntary interactions and relations with the target markets, for the purpose of achieving organisational and user satisfaction objectives. The structure of this thesis covers three main parts. Part I reflects the researchers approach to the subject. Marketing researchers such as Grönroos, Kotler, Bryson, De Sáez and Gummesson among others are presented.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how theory and practice intertwines through theactivism of the feminist punk performance collective Pussy Riot. I have also focussed on the political tools with which the activism is performed. Within the academic context of gender studies, I believe there is a need for research that aims to reduce the gap between scholarly and activist feminism. The theoretical framework for the analysis in this essay consists of material feminist theory and postmodern theory. The empirical material is a diversified assemblage of images, court excerpts, newspaper columns, interviews, lyrics and videos.

In this essay I compare the description of the Thirty Years? War in a number of German and Swedish encyclopedias published between 1854 and 2005. The essay is a historiographical research with focus on three areas; the description of the war background, the reason of the Swedish intervention in the war and the picture of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf with the consequences of the war and the peace of Westphalia. I want to analyze the differences and similarities in the way the history is being told in the German and Swedish encyclopedias. The research shows a transformation from a narrative, nationalistic, partial description with focus on individuals and specific events to a more analytical and objective description with focus on structures.