Stratego is a boardgame not very different from chess, that contains hidden information. Because of this, existing programs play at beginner level. The purpose of this thesis is to adjust a minimax algorithm so that it passes the demands of Stratego, and then build a Stratego agent around it. Tests with existing minimax algorithms leads to the development p-e-minimax. This algorithm uses two different values in its nodes to simulate the different information available to the agent and its opponent.

This essay examines the process of fair value accounting of financial assets in a Swedish commercial bank, in contrast to the theoretical approach stated by IASB. The theoretical background contains a review of the academic standpoint on fair value accounting and historical cost accounting, a detailed description of fair value accounting according to current and future IASB regulation and on the American FAS 157 regulation. The empirical case study describes the process of valuing and classifying financial assets into level 1 and level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The analysis describes how the legal requirements for classification are interpreted and applied in practice when valuing bonds and derivatives. The authors provide an explanation as to why the majority of financial assets are valued mark to model rather than mark to market as well as a suggestion on how the share of market valued assets can be increased..

The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine the fanzine, a form of amateur publication, in Sweden, both in the traditional paper form and the more recent electronic form. It deals with what is distinctive about the fanzine as a publication and also as a social and cultural product. It also looks upon how the fanzine uses the Internet and the new possibilities it brings. The people behind 18 fanzines, 10 electronic and 8 in paper, have answered a questionnaire about how they produce, publish, distribute and promote their fanzines, what they think about the fanzine as a mode of expression, and how they use the Internet. The masters thesis uses theories within cultural studies as a theoretical approach to the fanzine.

The purpose of this study is to highlight how a ring road and an external retail establishment may affect the city commerce. Umeå is the study object with interesting undergoing changes including a new external retail area south of the city and a new transport route that will lead the through traffic around the city.The study is based on a review of previous studies and a qualitative method. Four interviews were conducted with people who have a connection to commerce and/or municipal planning and where considered able to contribute with rich and relevant information. The result shows that the commerce in Umeå will be significantly strengthened in the context of a new external commercial establishment when the city?s overall attractiveness increases.

The aim in the study is to search for a deeper understanding of how parents experience a neurological diagnose of the child and how this affects the parenthood. Parenthood was seen in a systemtheoretical perspective as a social construction. The narrative method was used in two lifestory parentinterviews. The analysis was made from parenthood. The result formed stories about parenthood with children having neuropsyciatric functional disability who even came to be a woman?s struggle.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how museums, seen as heterotopic places where time and space act simultaneously, can, with the help of museum educators and guides, integrate the foreign citizens in Sweden. The analysis is done with the help of three institutions: The Vasa Museum, the Royal Armory and The Great Synagogue in Stockholm.The author of the thesis argues that recruiting trained personnel with foreign roots by museums would help significantly in the creation of a sense of collective identity and belonging among those citizens who are just adapting to the country. Through the use of Swedish, in conjunction with their mother tongue, as well as analogies, an important contribution can be attained in their integration.In this work, concepts such as the accent, are treated in a categorical manner, as the author, with the assistance of other researchers, concluded that the accent should not influence the perception of the intellectual and work capability of a professional museum educator/guide.History represents another key element in this thesis, as it discusses the way to find a new narrative form to channel history and refer to it, thus sharing historical roots with these new immigrants in Sweden..

The purpose of this examination is to identify how notions of Swedishness is created artistically, and from where these notions come. My method is to make a study on exhibition catalogues on the theme Swedishness/Nordism, with focus on the contemporary Swedish artist Peter Johansson. With a retrospect of his childhood in Dalecarlia, he investigates a Swedish iconography with it?s roots in national romanticism, which for more than one hundred years has been preserved and exploited of the tourist industry to market Sweden. It?s this monotonous iconography that Johansson deconstructs to make it appear like something else ? namely an iconography based on ethnic purity, which pushes away the foreign and protects the own.

It becomes increasingly more important that, as a new buisness, both to be seen and heard in an increasingly harder competition situation where the range of similar products and services increase. It requires a well planned and well thought visual profile to succesfully stand out on the market. To give a good impression, this profile should be both distinct and aesthetically appealing. In the making of a new profile it requires creativity to succesfully think in new directions and to separate from the competition.This practical report presents the production process for a designsolution to the new website Röstförmedlingen (Voice agency), a commission from the production and commercial bureau Bartos media. The task in this project was to create a graphic profile and a lofi-prototype that would represent Röstförmedlingen as a buissness.

The overall aim of this study is to clarify the situation in school for children with language disorder from the parents? perspective.Data were collected through five interviews with parents who have children of different ages and with various diagnosis within the language disorder spectra. A qualitative method based on a narrative inquiry was used and each interview was based on a interview guide with the following themes: the child?s difficulties, starting school, the school?s pedagogy, homework, action plans, participation and the future.Each story has its own themes, but there are also themes that are common in all interviews. One common theme in the parents? stories is that school has a lack of knowledge when it comes to language disorder.

As the football industry develops into a highly competitive commercialized industry, football clubs must step up and improve their business strategy. This study focuses on the famous Italian club AC Milan, a club with many international titles but with declining revenues. The purpose of this thesis is to study how AC Milan can generate higher revenues by comparing its marketing and business strategy with the most profitable clubs in the world, the benchmarking partners Real Madrid and Manchester United. By using a benchmarking model, following the five steps of this process, conducting observation studies, an interview and examining secondhand information, gaps between the clubs were evaluated and analyzed. These evaluations became together with chosen theoretical references, the basis for the improvement suggestions and conclusions shown by the authors.

Studien handlar om självskadebeteende. Syftet med undersökningen var att få reda på vilka yttre faktorer som påverkade tre unga tjejer att börja skada sig själva. Forskningen på området anser att personer börjar skada sig själva pågrund av sexuella övergrepp i ung ålder, men det framgår tydligt i resultatet att sexuella övergrepp i detta fall inte påverkade tjejerna i studien. Till grund för tjejernas destruktiva beteende ligger traumatiska händelser i deras uppväxt både i lågstadieålder samt högstadieålder.Metoden som användes i studien var semistrukturerade intervjuer eftersom intervjuaren då kan rikta sin fulla uppmärksamhet mot respondenten.Resultatet är utformat på ett narrativt sätt vilket gjorde att resultatet kunde presenteras i berättelseform. I resultatet framkom vilka yttre påverkansfaktorer som påverkade tjejerna att börja skada sig, som till exempel föräldrars skilsmässa, eller plötslig död i deras nära omgivning..

The Swedish and Icelandic women's movements, the Support Stockings and the Women's Alliance both had the goal to change their nation's women politics. The goal was to increase the low representation of women in their parliaments and to highlight women issues on the political agenda. The essay shows that the most important reason behind the will to form a party, was a new issue being disregarded by existing parties, although there is a considerable interest concerning the issue amongst society. While a party was formed on Iceland the Swedish equivalence did not occur. Even though only one party was formed, both movements achieved the same results.

This study aims to highlight patients´ experiences about and thoughts of side effects fromelectroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a therapeutic method commonly used when having severedepressions. The framing of questions were how the respondents of this study describe theirlife before, during and after ECT-treatment, how the treatment has affected their daily life andhow these experiences may contribute to the awareness of power in professional relations.The study is based on three semi-structured narrative interviews and the main result showedthat, according to my interpretation, ECT as a treatment obliterated memories, quality of lifeand daily structure for all participants. Unfortunately they have all become subjects ofpsychiatric power and have faced considerable difficulty in getting professional recognitionaccording to their severe memory issues. The respondents have lost the ability to relate totheir past which clearly makes them struggle in their present context. A point in commonamong them is that neither of them wanted ECT but, because of the lack of communicationbetween them as patients and the health care in general, they all ended up getting it..

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to examine the process of resocialization for individuals who previously lived as criminals from an individual perspective. The research questions for the essay are: How do individuals in the study describe their process of resocialization? In which way does a support organization affect the process of resocialization for the individual? In which ways do the reactions from society affect the process of resocialization for the individual?To answer these research questions a qualitative method was chosen where six narrative interviews was conducted with men who previously lived as criminals but have been resocialized into society. These men are roughly between the ages of 30-60 years and are all members of a support organization for ex criminals.The results show that the process is divided in four stages and that the support organization has facilitated the process of resocialization of the respondents. Reactions from society both facilitates change using the help of different agencies can contribute, while negative reactions from other individuals makes change difficult.

Taiwan's recent democratization seem to have rallied a wider support of the notion of a national identity amongst its citizens which in the year 2000 led to the election of the pro-independence party DPP and President Chen Shui-bian. Meanwhile, China insists on the "one country, two systems" formula, regarding Taiwan as merely a Chinese province, and continues to fight any Taiwanese initiative towards sovereignty. Through a narrative perspective, this essay analyzes the self-conscious national identity-building quest embarked upon by DPP and President Chen Shui-bian. The analysis consists of three parts. Firstly, a text-analysis of President Chen Shui-bian's speeches is conducted to examine in what way he enforces and legitimizes the identity-building-process through narratives.