The aim of the study has been to explore what participation and hope means for persons with disabilities living in an institution called Horizon House, in Stellenbosch South Africa. The aim has also been to discover the South African approach to disability and how Horizon House fits into this approach. Horizon House is an institution and a protective workplace in Stellenbosch for adults whose main impairment is of an intellectual nature but there are also physical and emotional disabilities. Another aim has been to explore the perspectives of the residents. The research questions of the study are: ? What does participation imply for the residents of Horizon House?? What does Hope represent for the residents of Horizon House?? What importance can hope have for people with disabilities, in their approach towards increased participation? We travelled to South Africa during a two week period in March 2009, where we participated at the protective workplace of Horizon House.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether parents that obtain long-term maintenance support in Enköping, consider the support as adequate when trying to meet their children's basic needs. The thesis also intends to investigate whether parents experience that their children, because they receive income support, have been socially excluded or stigmatized in their daily lives because of the family?s maintenance support. Further, the thesis aims to examine if there are any discrepancies in the above mentioned issue in relation to how long the parents have received maintenance support. Theoretical starting points used in this thesis mainly consist of the child perspective, social exclusion and the stigmatization theory.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how a bank?s features and internal factors have affected its choice of method in calculating the capital requirement.Theoretical and Empirical Method: The research strategy of this study has been of a qualitative nature with a deductive approach. The choice of method was depth interviews with respondents from a targeted sample of Swedish banks. These respondents were chosen based on the knowledge they possess as key employees in the capital requirement process and their involvement in choosing their banks? method for calculating the capital requirement.

New Economy Firms (NEFs) are considered being important drivers of economic development and growth in Sweden. Also, entrepreneurship is a widely discussed topic that is considered being essential for firms that are making business in a fast moving landscape. Usually, the growth of companies is put in context of the life cycle. The life cycle further implies that as a company moves from the startup-stage along the curve, the organizational structure increases. Further, increased structure is claimed to impede the entrepreneurial culture within the firm.

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze laws that completely prohibit abortion through a legal philosophical perspective. To demonstrate that abortion blanket bans cannot be seen as legally legitimate, the author has completed a literature study where she uses Robert Alexy?s ?Concept of Law? to analyze abortion laws both in general, and in Nicaragua in particular.Based upon Alexy?s ?Concept of Law? the author has identified three relevant key elements ? social efficacy, the argument from injustice and correctness of content - which she uses in her analysis. In order to apply these three elements on the total abortion ban, she then uses four different analysis tools - feminist theory, Human Rights, deontology analysis and right analysis. This has enabled a thorough analysis of the total ban on abortion that has demonstrates that such laws cannot be considered legitimate.By highlighting the human rights violations the law entails, one can conclude that the law has a social impact.

This Masters thesis is made as the first of two visitor surveys of three urban forest areas. These areas are; Skutan recreational area in Haninge, Ugglevikskällan on Norra Djurgården in Stockholm and the Paradiset Reserve in Huddinge. The study is made in cooperation with the managers of the three areas operating within the European Union Life Project regarding Urban Woods for People. The goal has been to collect data through studies of visitors and close by residents in the three areas. The results are to be used as primary values for the follow-up as well as a basis for managerial decisions. The interviews and surveys are also constructed in a fashion so that they can be used for the follow-up study. For the Skutan recreational area the mode of contact was by sending forms to the nearby residential areas.

Introduction: Bokföringsnämnden started the K-project in 2004. The purpose was to collect rules and standards for different categories of companies in a complete set of regulations. Small businesses were given the option to choose between K3 which is the main regulatory and K2 which is a simplified regulatory framework. One specific difference between the regulations is that companies may not capitalize development costs if the company applies K2, this may causes problems for the companies that can give rise to such costs.Purpose: The purpose is to explain the problems that companies have identified in the choice of regulatory frameworks and the implications that may follow the specific rule in K2 on the company's activities and financial report.Frame of reference: K3 contains definitions and requirements that must be met so development costs can be capitalized in a company. Information presented in the financial statements should be relevant to the reader.

In this study, I intend to examine some aspects of the activities of cultural companies in the town of Arvika. The study is qualitative in nature and based on in-depth interviews with self-employed cultural workers, as well as representatives from Arvika municipality. Cultural policy documents have been studied to clarify the self-employed status in the cultural sector and thus their importance to the cultural life in Arvika overall.My hope is to get a glimpse of what it means to work as a self-employed within the cultural sector in Arvika and the conditions that exist, in order to successfully run and develop their businesses.There is a shift in cultural policy, which has led to permanent forms of employment becoming fewer and self-employment to grow ( Karlsson & Lekvall, 6 ). One can say that the cultural sector has moved in the direction from a public matter, to the more privatized ( Köping , Lantz & Stenström, 3 ). The problem with this is that the policy of self-employment has not progressed at the same rate as the amount of business.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a difference between the respondent groups preparers and non-preparers position in IASBs question if a reversal of previously impaired goodwill should be prohibited. The background is an exposure draft sent out by the IASB and we examine the answers, in form of comment letters, sent in by the respondents to reach our purpose. Our method is positivistic in the sense that we study already existing theories when we create our hypothesis which gives our assumption about how the result of the respondent?s answers will be. Our data, which we have collected from the comment letters, is qualitative secondary data.

In this thesis I have chosen to study the use of crowdsourcing in Swedish archival institutions as well as the influence this methodic platform has on the work of modern archivists. This also raises the question whether the nature of the platform is in any way influenced by the attitude working professionals might have towards crowdsourcing as a legitimed working method. This investigation is based on case studies and interviews with archivists from select Swedish institutions and also the methodology of two now ongoing crowdsourcing projects.The theoretical framework on which this composition is based comes from the work of Gregory Asmolov and his work on crowdsourcing platforms and their functionality as tools of governing. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is applied to analyze how the method of crowdsourcing is utilised by archival institutions and influenced by their daily routine in conjunction with Governmentality as the chosen way of studying how these platforms might control their users.From the results of the performed case studies, two discourses emerged based on the view on quality concerning gathered information amongst the involved subjects. The first of these discourses places it´s trust and faith in users themselves where validity is of a lesser concern than the actual availability of information through the concept of ?wisdom of the crowds?.

Today Internet is clogged up and packed with homepages and information from both private persons and commercial companies. This has led to a decreased availability for a company to be noticed. The most common tool for consumers to use while searching for products online is via search engines. But because of the nature of these, not all companies can have good placements. Our research question was, "How do small online-companies attract consumers to their website"? The purpose of this thesis is to identify how a company works through online-communications and how to attract consumers to their home page.

Stage Design is design for action and contains décor, side-scenes and properties, as well as costume and grease-paint. The one responsible for this is the Stage Designer, who together with the Director, creates the best conditions for the actors to perform in. The stage, where the play takes place, could be either in a theater, an auditorium, or in another sort of room, at another place, inside or outside, and where the place itself inspires to theatrical performance and expressions. This type of theater is called Site-specific theatre. Two examples of this is the workshop ?Skogen sjunger? (eng.

Med en ständigt ökande stoffmängd inom gymnasieskolans biologiämne är det en nyckeluppgift för läraren att prioritera undervisningsinnehåll för att ge utrymme/möjlighet till fördjupning och progression. Styrdokumenten anger att eleverna förutom ämneskunskap av faktakaraktär även ska tillägna sig kunskap om "naturvetenskapens karaktär", Nature of science (NOS).Syftet med mitt examensarbete är att utifrån skolans praktik belysa och diskutera förutsättningarna för att använda NOS som innehållsbärande idé där NOS-aspekter utgör ett instrument (bland flera) för stoffurval. Kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med fem gymnasielärare i biologi rörande deras uppfattningar om och värderingar av NOS i undervisningen samt om hur de ställer sig till NOS som innehållsbärande idé. Aktuella styrdokument har analyserats med avseende på skrivningar om NOS utifrån vedertagna NOS-aspekter.Genomgången av styrdokumenten har visat att de innehåller talrika skrivningar med koppling till NOS. I intervjuerna uppgav lärarna dock att explicit NOS-undervisning förekom endast i mycket begränsad omfattning.

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.

This Master?s thesis provides insights into adult women?s fictional reading within the conceptual phrase ?a good book?. Eight qualitative and semi-structured interviews were performed in order to examine the nature of response and perceived benefits. The collected data were analyzed by Louise M. Rosenblatt?s reception-oriented transactional theory of reading and the cognitive psychology-based model of reading developed within the joint Nordic project SKRIN.