Recent studies have reemphasized the importance of competition in democracy. An ideaoriginating from Weber: that demoeratic competition leads to more qualified leaders, has been resurrected. Research shows that democracies are more Iikely to elect leaders with a high leve l of education, and with in demoeratic states stronger competition correlates with elected politicians with higher education, more political experience and higher previous income. This study researehes whether the earrelation between greater competition and electedcandirlates with higher "Curriculum vitae-qualities" holds between electoral systems. Does a more competitive electoral system elect candirlates that score higher on such measures? Using education as a proxy forthese qualities the study traces different outcomes on education in a mixed electoral system, camparing the majoritarian (more competitive) part of the electoral system with the prop011ional (less competitive) part.

This essay answers the question: How can a manufacturing business fulfill the information demand in the processes; purchasing, production, warehousing, order and delivery?The question has been answered through different kind of studies, such as literature, documents, Internet search, interviews and observations. The essay is written from a hermeneutic point of view and by using qualitative research. The result has been validated by two different manufacturing businesses.A simple information logistic model is the result of a comparison made between theory and empery. The aim of the model is to describe how a manufacturing business can fulfill the information demand by using different methods.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to obtain greater understanding of how children relate to the film medium and their experiences. This is obtained by listening to the children and observing their verbal and nonverbal communication in two focus group interviews. Children?s access to and selection of film are due to adult?s restrictions.

AbstractThis essay aims to problematize and illuminate the connection between special-education and nature-based activities. With a theoretical ground that is based upon a sociocultural perspective I consider the information from the field. Through a qualitative and critical perspective I performed individual interviews with five pupils from the sixth school-year in the Swedish elementary-school. I also performed Focus-group interviews with two educators and three teachers in the same school-form. By a Hermeneutical working-method I have found out that the informants in my survey have a common experience that activities performed in nature has a positive effect on learning.

Creativity and innovation have become two very important concepts in today?s society where the demand for these abilities are sought after. At the same time, the school system of today follows a more traditional outlook on what learning and knowledge means.The extend students ability to understand and elevate their motivation is possible through creative methods of working. In order to create a school system which can withstand the demands of the future by including creative methods in its model, a study was carried out to examine how teachers? thoughts on creativity could mean for its development.This study took place in an elementary school in Sweden where Entreprenöriellt Lärande (EL) has been in use for the last two years.

Construction waste from the housing industry includes all unnecessary consumption of building materials. The definition of construction waste is construction materials that has not been built in and becomes waste. Constructions waste can be divided into two types of contributions: operational and work site contribution. Some of the common construction materials in housing industry have such low usage level as 75 % and the rest becomes construction waste. Low usage of construction materials creates unnecessary costs and has a major environmental impact.

The aim of this thesis was to examine how a coordinator at a social welfare project in support of job seekers, achieve results in his efforts to reduce the number of clients with social assistance. The method of data collection was a mixture of open thematic interviews and semi- structured interviews with open questions. The coordinator was interviewed four times during the length of the project. In addition, two of his clients were interviewed. The data also includes a report from the relevant social services and other documents such as newspaper articles.

At Forsmark nuclear power plant a new course called "education in everyday safety" has been started in an attempt to improve the safety culture. The goal is to spread the of expectations and approach the maintenance management has set, to all employees working at the plants. During the course, theory is mixed with practical tasks to reach a common view how work should be done to achieve safety for the plant and the people that work there.The practical tasks are done inside "maintenance simulators". They are built inside 20 ft containers which contains two dummy pipe systems. On the pipe systems some valves, a flow meter and a pump has been installed.

The wild boar was reintroduced to Sweden in the 1970´s from enclosures that they had escaped from and by a government decision in 1988 they were considered a part of the natural fauna again. The purpose with this report is to examine the effects of the wild boars? reintroduction both on their welfare and on other aspects, such as how their population growth affects Sweden. This was done by gathering information from scientific literature and by performing three interviews. Another purpose is to briefly overlook live trapping and other common regulation methods.

The aim of this two year master thesis is to study the knowledge production within the field of Textile Studies at Uppsala University, with special focus on the use of artifact documentation as a research method. With domain analysis as a theoretical framework, ontological and epistemological assumptions as well as historical and social aspects are studied in relation to the research process. Qualitative research methods are used, including interviews, observations and text analysis. In the analysis of the knowledge processes in the field, perspectives on tacit knowledge and the concept of documents, are used as a theoretical basis. In the field of Textile Studies, the artifacts are used as one of the main objects of study, along with archival and pictorial sources. The main epistemological assumptions are that artifact analysis is dependent on a knowledge base, where technical handicraft skills, contextual knowledge and practical experience of object observation are the most important qualifications.

The use of environmental management systems, and objectives-led corporate management have become a widespread phenomenon today. Identification and assessment of an organisation?s significant (environmental) aspects is crucial within this work. Identification and especially assessment of significant aspects is often considered as a problematic step in many organisations. There are no generally accepted methods how to undertake this crucial step.

There are many barriers and obstacles that need to be removed to make the urban environment more accessible for people with disabilities. There are currently no adequate tools for urban planners to assess and address these obstacles. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide powerful methods for the visualization and analysis of spatial data, including the kind of data important in studies of accessibility. This study suggests a method urban planners can use to identify accessibility obstacles and to propose future actions to fix them.A literature review was conducted to find out what has been done and what is new regarding the accessibility issues. Different methods were evaluated which in turn led to the construction of a multi-step analytical strategy.

I got interested in this subject when I came in contact with Västtrafiks new paymentsystem myself during my visits in Gothenburg. I suspected problems with the informationmaterial regarding it and others seemed to share my opinion that the payment system wasdiffcult to understand. When I contacted Västtrafik and asked them about the paymentsystem they confirmed that some understanding diffculties had occurred. With thatconfirmation I decided to make it my project to look in to the matter.Some methods were used to identify the problems. The methods could again confirm thatthere were some problems with the payment system and that the information material wasa vital reason.

In an attempt to make social work evidence based, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, has recommended the use of standardized methods. As there are very few instruments that are defined as standardized, we decided to compile studies made with the "Family Climate self-rating scale", FCS, that is used by the profession, although not yet validated. We were looking for conformity in results and functionality in family treatment. FCS comprises a list of 85 adjectives to reflect different aspects of the emotional atmosphere in the family. It has been used since the late 80´s and there has been no attempt to compile results of using the instrument, until now.By searching in databases and libraries we found 20 Swedish studies using the instrument, which we compared to each other.

The thesis is about integration in the city and how integration can be improved through physical planning. Segregation can result in changing peoples? prerequisites in our society. Opportunities in life become dependent on what area of the city you live in or where you grew up. Integration denotes acceptance for all people, while different cultural and ethnic identities are preserved at the same conditions for everyone.