In an effort to strengthen democracy in the union, the EU in 2005 took a new approach to communications policy to reach out to the citizens. The strategic document "Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate" was accompanied by two other documents, and the three of them were the core of this policy. Both democracy and communications work means at EU level a higher complexity than in the nation-state arena. Objective of this study is to examine how the implementation of Plan D has turned out in a democracy renewal perspective. To achieve that answers are sought to questions concerning the goals of Plan D, how they are still present today, what happened in practice regarding the efforts that are highlighted, and how the substance of the activities can be judged from a democratic theory perspective.

This essay examines the strategies adopted by the Swedish parliamentary parties against the Pirate Party (Piratpartiet). The study uses the PSO-theory, which attempt to explain the success of niche parties as a consequence of the established parties? strategies against the new competitor. A qualitative analysis and a comparison of the parties? manifestos from the 2002, 2006 and 2010 national elections is used to determine which strategies are adopted.

The Private Equity industry has over the past years been booming and major external environmental changes have made the industry transform rapidly. Increased competition between Private Equity firms is one of the reasons why the industry has been and is being forced to focus more on addition of value through increased operational management. Consequently, the focus of value addition is by some said to be transferred away from deal making and financial skills, and into active operative management. This case study investigates how the portfolio management, and more specifically the measuring and management of performance, is carried out in a number of leading Swedish Private Equity funds with investments in the biotech sector. The biotech sector is characterized by extensive research and development, and many biotech companies often lack income and other measurable financial parameters in the initial phase.

Tidigare undersökningar av motivationen att utöva friluftsliv har identifierat motiv som social samvaro, fysisk aktivitet, naturupplevelser och avkoppling, dock har området mest berörts i samband med planering och förvaltning av naturområden. Den här studien har undersökt motiv bakom människans friluftslivsutövande i syfte att förstå dessa drivkrafter i relation till mänskliga behov. Studien bestod av 31 deltagare från olika delar av Sverige, i åldrarna 22-75 med varierande sysselsättning, friluftslivs-utbildning, civilstatus och nationalitet, varav 16 kvinnor. Data samlades in genom att deltagarna fick skriva berättelser om sin motivation. Det insamlade materialet meningskoncentrerades och analysen resulterade i att tre abstrakta motiv kunde urskiljas: (1) att komma bort från något, samt (2) att få inre och (3) yttre stimulans.

Uppsatsen syfte är att identifiera och beskriva diskurser som omgärdar växelvis boende genom att analysera föräldrars tal om/konstruktioner av föräldraskap. Föräldrar vars barn bor växelvis hos de båda föräldrarna. Studien har följande frågeställningar:? Hur talar föräldrar med erfarenhet av växelvis boende om detta?? Hur konstruerar de i sina utsagor föräldraskap ?sitt eget och andras?? Hur könas detta tal?? Vilka diskurser kan urskiljas i föräldrarnas tal om föräldraskap och växelvis boende? ? Hur kan dessa förstås?? Hur samspelar de olika diskurserna med varandra?Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod och utgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio föräldrar med växelvis boende. De teoretiska perspektiven är postmodernism, socialkonstruktivism, konstruktioner av föräldraskap, konstruktioner av kön och kritisk diskursanalys.

This paper addresses the question about what role typography plays in the interpretation of a text. From three different handbooks in typography arguments are gathered and categorized in to three categories: roman types, san serif and others. Interviews with people from the graphic design area are also a part of the paper and are accounted for in the discussion part of the paper. Areas of theory are a broad hermeneutic view based on Hans-Georg Gadamers thoughts, which have sub categories such as: Michel Foucault?s theory about discourses, John Swales genre theory and Anders Björkvall?s thoughts on typography and multi-modal texts.

Background: According to the Swedish Social Board induced abortions are increasing in the modern day society. Nurses who work with in the gynecological department can come across patients seeking care for an induced abortion.Theoretical framework: The findings of the study will be discussed in relation to Peplau's nursing theory, ethical concepts and nursing concepts.Aim: The aim of the literature review was to illuminate the experiences of nurses working with induced abortion.Method: A systematic literature review with an inductive approach was chosen. The findings are based on seven qualitative and two quantitative studies. The articles were assessed through two different modified templates based on qualitative or quantitative design.Findings: Nurses and midwives experienced their work with induced abortions as emotionally stressful. However, it was highlighted that all women have the right whether to choose abortion or to proceed with the pregnancy.

Abstract:The old established description gunboat diplomacy has in modern time changed to a broader and more nuanced definition called maritime diplomacy. But what is maritime diplomacy and how is it described? This essay analyses the theories from the Englishman James Cable and the American Edward Luttwak. Both Cable and Luttwak represent nations which have a global security interests and deploy their maritime forces worldwide. The foundation for their theories is power politics.

This study contents a research of the Swedish temperance movements IOGT, NTO and TO:s adult education in Dalarna between 1921 and 1939. A theory that is used in this essay is the publicity theory of Jürgen Habermas. A theory in this essay is that the adult educational work of the temperance movements could bee seen as an alternative publicity because the courses that the temperance movement held in general contents a great part of the movements own literature, the participants in the courses held their own lectures to each other and it was mostly only members of the temperance movements who could join the courses. The main subject of the courses was history in literature, English, Esperanto, and knowledge about local democracy. Not many courses content the drinking issue in Sweden at this time, even thought a national referendum was held in the issue during the research period of this essay.

In this study, I examine how educators are working with gender. My focus has been on gender and literature. The questions I asked is how educators choose the books that are read in the preschools and if they discuss literature from a gender perspective? I used two methods in this study, observations and interviews. My main base of theory is Lev Vygotskijs? sociocultural theory.

Farmers Cooperative has in recent years developed from national markets to cross-border, international, collaborations. One example is the merger between the Swedish dairy company Arla and Danish MD Foods, where the companies collectively are sought to reduce transaction costs and thus improve efficiency. The Swedish market for commodities (fertilizers and pesticides) in agriculture has for many years been dominated by a few large players, with little opportunity for grain associations and local grain companies to offer their customers a varied range of commodities with a competitive pricing.To change this state, a majority of Swedish and Danish grain associations and local grain companies have established a trans-national cooperation. Through the establishment of the organization DLA Agro, they offer their customers a good variety of products with competitive prices. This study investigates thus according to the theory of cooperative models to what extent and how the DLA Agro helps to create benefits for the Swedish member companies.

This paper quantitatively examines the effects of marketing brands within the same product category and the same brand portfolio jointly. We have chosen to call this type of marketing category advertising. The results of the study show that category advertising leads to increased brand awareness within the category, which is particularly important for brands within less salient subcategories. For strong brands however, category advertising leads to lower purchase intentions, an effect which could potentially be moderated by focusing the advertisement on the complementary nature of the products combined with promotional elements. The study also shows that there is no difference between advertising products jointly and separately when it comes to brand attitude, category attitude, typicality, brand purchase intention for weak brands and category purchase intention.

Abstract                - ?Mergers and acquisitions ? How does the integration process affect the result in mergers and acquisitions?Date:                              May 31st 2012Level:                             Master thesis in Business administration, 15 ECTSInstitution:                  School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology, Mälardalen UniversityAuthors:                       Mikael Hansson              15th May 1984                                         Jani Timonen                   12th June 1983Title:                              Mergers and acquisitions ? How does the integration process affect the result in mergers and acquisitionsTutor:                             Staffan BoströmKeywords:                   Mergers, acquisitions, synergies, cultural, competitive advantage, integrating, stakeholder theory and institutional theoryResearch questions:                   How has the integration process affected the outcome of the acquisition of Jokab and what can ABB do differently in future acquisitions?Purpose:                       The purpose of this master thesis is to identify the factors that affect a merger or an acquisition and the factors that make the integration process a success or failure.Method:                       The method used in this study is based on systems theory, this means that reality is explained as objective and completely as possible. The study is qualitative in nature, in which a deeper understanding of the subject mergers and acquisitions wants to be achieved. The study uses an abductive approach and the data used was both from primary and secondary sources.Conclusion:     The result of the study shows that the integration process is influenced by several factors. The most important factors from the acquirer are to have a time schedule, clear communication and a person in charge of the integration process.

Vi undersöker den ickeparametriska optionsprissättningsmodellen med namnet kanonisk värdering. Vi visar att den kanoniska modellen fungerar väl på svensk data. Vi visar också att kanonisk värdering kan generera ett volatilitetsleende som stämmer överens med det vi observerar på marknaden. Dessa empiriska resultat är konsistenta med tidigare forskning. Ett teoretiskt motiverat resultat är att den kanoniska värderingsmodellen kan härledas från ?Large Deviation Theory?..

AbstractTitle: Coach, vän eller både och? ? en kvalitativ studie om coachning inom arbetslivetAuthors: Jonas Näslund & David ÖhrlingTutors: Ulla Moberg & Larsåke LarssonPurposeThe purpose of this thesis is to examine how coaching in working life serves, aiming to find what influences the interaction between coach and client. To seek to answer the purpose we raised a number of research questions which discussed, among other the coach's intentions and the parties' relationship.TheoriesThis thesis is based on a number of different theories, where the Leader-member Exchange Theory is considered the main theory. LMX is used when studying the relationship between a manager and an employee. Other theories used in this thesis are for example the Social exchange theory and one-on-one-coaching.MethodThe methods used in this thesis are semi-structured interviews, observations and recordings of coaching sessions.