The present thesis closer examines what has come to be known as al-Qaida, partly from what al-Qaida is considered to be, partly from the consequences a certain picture of al-Qaida might give rise to. Between 1988-2001 most of this thesis sources refers to al-Qaida as a small, organized core group with some degree of cell structure. From 1991 to present days, many of the sources enlarge the picture of al-Qaida. From now on they start to view al-Qaida as either a network in itself or al-Qaida as a part of a larger islamistic network, not only as an organized core group with presumptive bases in Afghanistan. The most recent of theories regarding al-Qaida looks at al-Qaida as an ideology in itself (al-Qaedaism) or al-Qaida as a part of previously existing ideologies (Islamism, Neofundamentalism and Jihadism-Salafism).Al-Qaida is being seen - by scholars, journalists and terrorism experts - as an organization with a core group, a network in itself, part of a larger islamistic network and an ideology of its own or as a part of already existing ideologies.

1 252 unaccompanied refugee children have disappeared in Sweden since 2007. These children have never been found. Nearly one unaccompanied refuge child disappears per day. This happens during the time they are within the Swedish authorities' responsibility. This thesis uses the framing theory of the mass media regarding the missing unaccompanied refugee children and what the mass media considers to be the cause of their disappearance, the moral aspects of the articles and the solutions to the problem.

 The purpose of this thesis was to explore how the ideological self-image of the biggest Swedish governmental party, Moderaterna, has developed between 1993 and 2011. The second purpose was to compare this development on a fundamental ideological level, with development on the operative ideological level. This was to be made by qualitative analysis of the party?s ideological programs and election manifestos. Hopefully this would expose a pattern of the party?s ideological development. The findings of this thesis however, suggested that while the ideology on the fundamental level had radically changed, the ideology on the operative level has been characterized by continuity.

This thesis is a part of the DySCAS (Dynamically Self-Configuring Automotive System)project which has the overall purpose of creating a middleware for the electronics in an automotive environment. The thesis has been made with collaboration with ENEA AB who is a member of the DySCAS project. ENEA AB has developed a demonstration platform to test the fundamental ideas which the DySCAS project is built on.The purpose of this thesis was to design and implement a GPS application to be added to the demonstration platform. This was done by adding a GPS receiver to the original DySCAS demonstration platform and designing and implementing an application to be able to extract the information from it. The resulting application is able to present cur- rent position and absolute time to the DySCAS networks as services to be used by other applications or by the network it self.

ERP system is the information technology that has had the biggest impact in companies? development and way of working in today?s world. ERP system is divided in several applications with a modular software design that allow people in every department in a company to store and retrieve information accurately and in real-time. This master thesis investigates attitudes toward ERP systems among business organisations and ERP suppliers with the overall purpose of analysing to which extent a new ERP system will bring change in the business process. The purpose of this thesis is to make a survey of attitudes toward ERP systems among business organisations and ERP suppliers.

This thesis is written at WSP management and investigates the practice of pre-project planning and feasibility studies at Swedish construction companies, through the study of the ongoing feasibility study of the mall Sturegallerian in Stockholm, and through interviews with experienced project managers in the construction industry. There is currently a big span in the way Swedish construction companies plan the pre-project phase and the aim of this thesis is to present a more generic and standardized way that helps minimize project risks and maximize efficiency and profit. The result is a generic model which can be used in pre-project planning. The model describes the phases in the preproject planning process and the activities that span these phases. Is also describes the categories of professions that need to participate in the preproject planning group and which activities that each profession executes. The other result is a list of factors that need to be considered for a well performed pre-project phase, as found during the interviews. Among others the thesis stresses the importance of involving the client as a key participant in the process.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to contribute to the development of business relationships between a supplier and its customers. The research area and research problem was further developed into three research questions. The research questions concerns the following subjects: the substance of business relationships and dimensions within relationships management that can be used in order to contribute to the development of a company?s business relationships.

This bachelor?s thesis examines costs of welfare services in municipalities of the region of Västra Götaland in Sweden. Previous research provided reasons to expect a link between costs of welfare services and demographic changes. Furthermore, Willam J. Baumol?s theory about ?the cost disease? also provided reasons to expect a link between welfare services and salary levels.

This thesis of 15 hp has been implemented at Halmstad University, in collaboration with Saab Dynamics in Linköping. Saab Dynamics is a company operating in the defence industry where competition is tough. This necessitates new ways to increase efficiency in the company, which is the basis for this thesis. Saab Dynamics wants to introduce simulation driven design. Since Saab Dynamics engineers have little experience of simulation, required a user methodology with clear guidelines.

This report describes a thesis done at the Jönköping University of Technology. The aim of this thesis was to create conditions to optimize an existing automatic electrostatic coating system by changing the technology for dispensing lacquer. To select the technology, a study of different dispensing techniques carried out which concluded that the piezoelectric membrane and electrostatic atomization are the most interesting techniques.In order to perform tests with dispensing techniques a demonstrator has been optimized. The controller and PC software of the demonstrator has been programmed to be able to send out PWM signals that control the dispensers. An adapter card was designed to control the piezoelectric membrane and a steering link to the electrostatic atomization has been developed for PWM signals up to 500V.The work has laid ground for a demonstrator where further testing of the dispensing technologies can be performed..

AbstractOne aim of this thesis, has been to explore how discursive frames are constructed, frames to relate to, compare with, and therefore be part in shaping political subjects. The other aim has been connected with a more empirical platform, where I wanted to discover how these frames are established and structured discursively within a political organization, among its members; in this case with a foucs on the Swedish social democracy and its former leader Olof Palme. The thesis starts with a theoretical presentation and discussion, where focus is on the concepts of ideology, discourse theory in the form of Laclau and Mouffe, and narrative theory. The concepts will be presented and discussed, and also related to the other concepts to see their theoretical potential, both ontologically and epistemologically. Finally the theoretical rudiment is linked and analyzed with the empirical material.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to investigate if gender stereotypes are mediated to children between 0-3 years through books suitable for their age. This thesis concerns books that are available in public libraries. The content will be analysed by using a combination of methods, both content analysis of all the books in our study and a qualitative analysis of a smaller number of these books. With inspiration from both Robert Connell and Yvonne Hirdman and their theories of gender and gender stereotypes, this material was read and we wanted to examine if books for very young children might establish stereotypes. Our analysis showed that many known stereotypes are common in these books.

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

In this thesis a study about funding in civil-society organizations is carried out. The aim is to understand how an organization in civil-society is affected by different forms of financing models. The empirical material in the thesis consists of a case study of three Swedish civil-society organizations (CSO) producing social services in the field of rehabilitation of people with a drug addiction. The case study consists of mainly interviews with people holding a leading position in the three organizations together with a study of for the research question relevant documents. From the empirical material, including an extensive analysis of these organizations different income sources, a partial model of how to categorize and analyze different forms of funding in CSOs is developed.

Approximately ten people die every year at building sites in Sweden. Every year TheWork Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) receives 3200 accident reportsfrom the construction sector. The Swedish building contractor Skanska has the vision:?Zero accidents?. Only at Skanska Sweden, where this diploma work is preformed,350-520 accidents and mishaps are reported every year for the last 5 years.