Through interviews with children of ages 4-5 years old and by observing children children at play at three preschools with different types of outdoor surroundings, I have investigated if the preschools outdoor surroundings have any influences on the children´ choice of play. The hypothesis was that natural surroundings can entice children´s interest in nature being in it and play. I have also investigated if the children know why it is important to be outdoors and if they know it has a positive influence on their health.The result of my investigation is that the children play about the same games at the three different preschool gardens, but at the preschool with more natural surroundings, the children have more contact with plants and animals, and could learn of the different phenomena of nature by the preschool teacher answering their questions. Most of the children in the interviews know it´s useful to be outdoors and be on the move and get fresh air, but many of them thought it was most important to play. By being outdoors the children get exercise, fresh air, play and at the same time they establish an understanding of the nature and a healthier life..

This thesis is about the public library of Ulricehamn and the cultural activities at the library during the period from 1960 to 1998. We have focused on the study of the cultural activities. It begins with the foundation of the library of Ulricehamn and a historical background to it. It follows with the definitions of the public library and a historical background to the public library in Sweden. Then we present the goal of the public library in general and the goal of Ulricehamn's city library.

Detta är en undersökning av fördelningen av sökande till en musikhögskola vid tre söktillfällen med fem års mellanrum, 1997, 2002 och 2007. Mot denna bakgrund diskuteras förändringar i instrumentval som antas spegla förändringar för ca 20 år sedan då de sökande antas ha gjort sina val.Förändringar som jag har iakttagit är att instrument som går under den klassiska genren har tappat sökande men den är fortfarande den största genren. Instrument under afrogenren blir mer och mer populära och folkmusikgenren blir större och större..

This thesis analyses how friendship between children is described in four Swedish childrens books, published in 1995-2001 and recommended in Barnbokstipset, which is used in libraries for recommending books. Today there are many childrens books that describe various aspects of childrens everyday lives and these books can have an influence on the children who read them. But I found that there has not been much research about how friendship is described in childrens books, although much has been written about the importance of social relationships with peers for childrens lives and development. I analyze the books one by one with the help of a number of questions and categories that I have constructed beforehand. In the analysis I apply Zick Rubins theory of two different stages in childrens understanding of friendship and William Corsaros theory of interactive space which deals with who is allowed to join in games and friendships and who is not allowed to do so and how this is played out.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out how gender roles are described in musical lyrics written for children. I used gender theories that describe how stereotypical gender roles are displayed in music and these theories were later compared with the songbooks I studied. The thesis is a qualitative study to detect masculine and feminine related differences in the texts. After having read, analyzed and compared over 200 songs I found that the stereotype notions of masculinity and femininity is reflected in songs. Society has transferred in this way normative values on to the children through the songs that teachers choose to sing in schools..

This bachelor´s thesis analyzes the video game Red Dead Redemption and the historical use of the environment and atmosphere in the game. The theory and method used is media research and social memory studies. Two questions were asked: how does Red Dead Redemeption convey and produce the historical environment and the historical atmosphere. Furthermore subqueries/criterias were used to help answer the main questions.The analysis was divided into two parts, the first part we analyze and discuss the games historical environment and the second part analyzes and discusses the historical atmosphere of the game.The conclusion is that both the historical environment and the historical atmosphere is present in the game through picture and sound, the text only works as a guide. The picture and sound live in a symbiotic relationship and depend on each other to fully immerse the player to the game.

The study deals with three questions concerning attitudes to singing: When does the joy of singing with girls and boys change to a feeling of ?I can not sing?? What is it that affects them? Are there any differences between girls and boys attitudes to singing?A questionnaire with 12 questions about singing was distributed to 5 girls and 5 boys in (Swedish) grade 1, 4 and 8. It turned out that the girls in the study ?play with singing? together or by themselves, while the boys are satisfied singing in school on music lessons. Because of this, the singing interest for boys gets lower and lower between 10 and 14 years.

This bachelor thesis has as its aim to investigate theSwedish librarians? views and opinions about censorshipof their libraries' collections as well as buildinginformation about the context of challenges against thesame collections. In Sweden the public can't, unlike in theUSA, formally challenge material and are forcedto?complain? the subject with a librarian. What is deemedas controversial, both by the public and by the librariansthemselves are explored through qualitative interviewswith six librarians.The librarian's find that they rarely experience anythingthat can be called aggression or organized protests likethose found in the USA.

Applications for mobile devices, also known as apps, are today the backbone of a huge market where the company Apple is one of the key players. Apple develops, among other things, handheld electronic devices, which are powered by the operating system iOS. Through iOS, millions of customers get access to Apple?s App Store.During a period of two months, an app in the form of a game has been developed for iOS in the programming language Objective-C. The user of the app is presented intuitive menus and interactive graphical objects that seemingly obey physical laws.

Efter fyra månader som ljudpraktikant på det svenska spelföretaget Starbreeze i Uppsala, var det dags att ta steget vidare i ytterligare fyra månader. Från ljuddesign till scriptning, idéer och tankar, samt en inblick i hur scriptning fungerar. Detta arbete handlar om framtagandet av en ljuddesign-prototyp åt ett externt företags framtida spelprojekt. En utveckling som från början var tänkt att öka kunskaperna om scriptning, och att skapa ett sammanhängande spelscenario, men som sedan utvecklades till att leda mycket längre. Förklaring: Ljuddesign = Ljudläggning av någon form, i detta fall spel. Scriptning = Enklare programmering, kan vara saker som händer eller saker man kan göra i spelet Nyckelord: Soundvolume 2.0, Starbreeze, ljuddesign, spel, sounddesign, 3D.

This report intends to analyze the difference between the original rules and a modification of the rules for the Scandinavian version of the world famous dice game yatzy (yahtzee). Several works are made previously existing strategies for yatzy and Yahtzee.The study was conducted using the optimal strategy calculated and implemented in the programming language Java. The execution of the application to create the file containing the optimal strategy was running on leased powerful servers from Amazon and took just over six hours each.A simulated player played 100,000 games based on the strategy, to obtain data which then was used to plot graphs and analyze the expected score and its standard deviation. The expected value (mean) and standard deviation of the score for the possibility of three or four throws were 233.00 ± 44.82 and 280.07 ± 41.25.In view of the results drawn the expected conclusion that the four possible throws provides increased probability of getting a high score, unlike the case where the player may only be able to throw the dice three times. The fact that the variance is lower in the case of four throw session is equivalent to that the likelihood to get close to the expected value increases..

Denna rapport är av en reflekterande karaktär. Den förmedlar arbetsprocessen och resultatet av ett projekt som gjorts i kursen examensarbete i medier: Dataspelsutveckling vt 2008. Verket som rapporten grundar sig på är en bana gjord för Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic Games, 2007). Banan skall uppnå mina egenstipulerade krav för att en bana skall vara välbalanserad. Texten inleds med en beskrivning av arbetsprocessen och de olika stegen som genomgicks.

Dark Tourism is a relatively new concept, but as a phenomenon it has existed for centuries in the form of pilgrimages and gladiator games. The term includes visits to places associated with death and disaster, and has in more recent years become a highlighted tourist niche. This paper addresses the phenomenon of Dark Tourism and the reasons behind a visit to such an attraction. To find out the motive behind people's visits, interviews were conducted with respondents who have previously visited one or more Dark Tourism sites. A total of 32 people were interviewed about what influenced them to go to such a macabre place.

The research of today shows that natural environments are importantfor children's physical and mental development. It alsoshows that children often opt out of the traditional equipmentplaygrounds have to offer. By breaking the boundary betweenthe playground and park, is it possible to create a new spacethat will encourage rather than demand play? Through gatheringinformation and talking to landscape architects, designers,and children, I realized that today's parks already have environmentsand objects that could be used for playing. But whatthey need is something that makes the environment even moreinviting for children to play.

Todays board game manuals have many shortcomings. One of them is that they are not always adapted to the game's target audience.Adapting the language and shape of a game manual for the the target group children, can save time for both parents and teachers, and give the children a chance to conquer the game by themselves. In addition, playing board games can lead to children developing other important properties such as problem solving and independence.This study found that the game manuals inconsistency, tone and the way they adress the reader makes it difficult for children to grasp the content. Many game manuals do not speak directly to the reader, and often describes gameplay in a passive way, which has been shown by this study.This study has resulted in 12 guidelines for writing game manuals for children. In addition, they have been tested with a sample study.