Usability studies are not a central field of research in library and information science. Although literature in library and information science treats the importance of usable user interfaces quite extensively, the literature does not significantly treat potential problems in measuring usability. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate, through a critical analysis, the methods used when conducting usability studies in library and information science. The critical analysis is based on potential problems in measuring usability identified through a literature review from the field of studies Human-Computer Interaction, the concept of usabilitys original domain. The material which is to be analysed, is chosen from one library and information science journal Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

Djur har historiskt haft en central roll i människans utveckling och behandling av ohälsa, och djurs hälso- och terapifrämjande egenskaper har de senaste decennierna börjat uppmärksammas. Med syfte att utröna hur hästar kan användas i terapeutiskt arbete intervjuades sex yrkesverksamma kvinnor på två behandlingshem med hästassisterad terapi (HAT) för tonårsflickor med psykosocial problematik. Därtill enkätintervjuades fyra kvinnor som genomgått HAT. Det framkom att hästar kan utgöra terapeutiska och kommunikativa verktyg som kringgår klientens försvarsmekanismer, reducerar det hotfulla i samtals-situationer samt underlättar koncentration och anknytning. Klienten upplever ett ömsesidigt förhållande med hästen, och meningsfullhet och kärlek.

Humans attitudes towards different animals are very complex were culture, genetic, psychology and evolution are some of the factors that influence. The order of animals that can provoke the most intense and extreme attitudes, both positive and negative, are the carnivores. Wolves are a constant debate in Sweden and even though a big part of the population are neutral towards the wolf, a clear friction of the attitudes can be seen. Some factors that have been seen to influence the attitude are age, education and the size of the hometown. The aim of this study is to investigate whether outdoor activities, time spend in rural areas, and time spent in a weekend cottage, also correlate with attitude towards wolf.

The outdoor environment is the first thing you notices when you come to a pre-school and it also plays an important part in the development of children, their play and meeting their large motor needs. It is important that the outdoor playground is stimulating and inviting.My goal is to examine if the outdoor environment plays any role in the development of children and their interest in nature. What kind of thoughts do teachers and parents have about outdoor play, and is there a developmental goal for the children as well as what role do the teachers play in reaching these goals. In my work I want to show how an outdoor environment should be formed to help educationally as well as be safe and not least of all fun to be in..

The aim of the study was to reach a deeper understanding and knowledge about how women with an experience of prostitution perceive what this has meant for them and how it has influenced their lives. The questions of the study were: (1) How has the prostitution experience affected the women in their lives? (2) How have they learnt to deal with this experience? To answer these questions a qualitative method was used where interviews were conducted with four women with experience of prostitution. All women experienced that the prostitution had affected their lives. Examples given that inter alia relationships, sexuality, and self-image had been affected.

An analysis of Zolas Nana focusing on male desire. Through a study of the narrtive structure and the polemic relation between the concepts of ?Nature? and ?Culture? it is shown that opposing ideologies are imbedded in the text. Nana is a symbolic character, in large, a myth created by male desire that eventually becomes a manifestation of that desire. At the same time, however, the character Nana evolves from being a mirrored image of male desire into a more stable and real individual and this process is also an answer to when and why she dies,underlining the fact that she initially was a creation emanating from male desire and in losing those symbolic functions she loses her function in the novel..

Genom tiderna har det funnits ett särskilt band mellan människan och sällskapsdjuret. Forskning tyder på att denna relation bär med sig åtskilliga fördelar för människan. I den här studien undersöks vad hästen och hunden upplevs ha för inverkan på människan. I studien intervjuades 15 kvinnor som har djurrelaterade yrken. Nio beskrev hundens inverkan och sex beskrev hästens.

The case method is a relatively new pedagogical method in Sweden that is based on students exercising their skills in the analysis of complex situations and problems that are based in reality and that help students to see a broader perspective and context.The purpose of this study has been to investigate, through interviews with students and teachers, the advantages and disadvantages of the case method in teaching geography.The results of the study show that both teachers and students share almost the same opinion. The conclusion is that the case method is a didactic method that is well suited for teaching geography, as it is based on reality and develops the students? ability to analyze, argue and find solutions in several areas within the subject of geography. If a student is strong in these skill areas they can really benefit from the application of the case method in the teaching of geography, but for students who are weaker in these skills, the case method can be a disadvantage.

This essay deals with the ideas of social change in the Iron Gates Gorge site of Lepenski Vir during the Mesolithic. The change from a mainly fish-based subsistence strategy to a strategy that came to rely more on hunting and later domesticated animals could have been the onset of the social change that is noticeable in the material culture from the site. Theessay is divided in two main segments. The first consists of a case-study based on three themes that describes and searches for changes in the subsistence-, settlement- and burialpractises during the Mesolithic and beginning of the Neolithic phases, and the second part analyses the results from the case-study. It is primarily the idea of transformations and reproductions of traditions that will be dealt with in the analysis which is facilitated by a theoretic structure based on and inspired by the works of Emilé Durkheim and Anthony Giddens..

Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?. On the basis of our experiences, we describe the social elements that form the foundation on which the Virtual Community rely on.

Computer based information systems play an important role in modern military combat vehicles. The crew needs to be able to quickly get information about both the vehicle and its outer surroundings in order to quickly make the correct decisions. In this report, we describe the development of a prototype new information system for the BvS10 vehicle, manufactured by BAE System Hägglunds AB in Örnsköldsvik.An important aspect of the system is the time it takes from the point that the information is generated by the vehicle sensors until it is presented to the user. The system must be able to ensure that it never displays information that is out of date. Thus, it is important to create a layer and component based architecture for the solution, making it possible to control, in detail, the information?s age as it moves through the system.

One special feature in the Swedish nature, mainly in the county of Uppland is one distinctive kind of dip, which can be distinguished from its fast and unaccounted drainage. These dips are called ?glupar? and can mainly be found in coarse-grained pebbled moraine under the highest shoreline (HK). During spring, and particularly when snowmelting occur, the wateramliptude fluctuates a lot until late summer or the beginning of fall comes; these dips are then often almost fully drained. During winter however, the waterlevel stands high.

Based on a review of literature on evalution of public activities and in purpose to introduce amore general framework, this study describes a picture of the concept, context, motives,strategies, use and actors in Evaluation as these are experienced outside the field of libraryand information. The background is the increased need for" evaluations in public libaries and aneed for new LIS knowledge about it. The reviewed literature has its origin in differentdisciplinary contexts and the study include contributions from policy studies, sociologi,education research, business administration, philosophy and anthropology. The focus, though,is not placed upon differences in the literature but on similarities.The review is organised in six parts. In the first part a presentation is given of how evaluationsare conceptualized and its meaning in a historical perspective.

It appears from today's debate about the quality of social work and addiction treatment that largely focuses on the impact of recent various interventions in the hope of being able to alter social work's role in society and also the organizational structure. The debate points to a part of the 1970s social welfare debate. Today's aspirations to establish an evidence-based practice can hardly be expected to solve the social services basic dilemmas is that it always have to do something, despite the many times you cannot get clear instructions on which funds should be used by law or science. Even if you follow the rules and practices based on scientific studies should the importance of various key initiatives to remedy deficiencies in social service work with addicts in large part depend on how, in these initiatives define the term "evidence-based practice" and what steps will be indicated for to develop practice. My starting point was to explore how evidence-based social work in connection with medication-assisted treatment for opiate addiction look, which evidence-based interventions Social Services currently uses in connection with medication-assisted treatment for opiate addiction, as well as how to work with it in the ordinary course of business. The study showed that social services have become better at using these methods in recent years and that today there are more tools available than before.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att beskriva personer med traumatisk hjärnskadas erfarenheter av fritidsaktiviteter. Den undersökta gruppen bestod av sju personer i åldern 26 ? 54 år. Tid efter traumat var minst två år. Datainsamlingen genomfördes genom individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades utifrån kvalitativ innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman (2004) och resulterade i tre kategorier: ? Personliga begränsningar vid utförandet av fritidsaktiviteter?, ? Förändring av utförandet eller annat val av fritidsaktiviteter?, ?Miljöns påverkan av utförandet av fritidsaktiviteter?.