Swedish students' knowledge of mathematics has deteriorated in recent years. Teaching of mathematics is therefore starting point in an ongoing discussion among researchers, school leaders, politicians, teachers and others, who all thinks they know best about how teaching should be designed to the greatest extent possible to raise students' proficiency levels in the subject. Teachers' practices have long been the focus of discussions and views on these differ. The purpose of this paper is therefore to study students 'conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching, with teachers' methods and tools of focus, in relation to previous research on the subject. The method used was a survey of students in secondary school and a textual analysis of previous studies on the subject.As revealed by the survey was that the textbook has a big advantage in mathematics education in Sweden today.Many students are not accustomed to working in a different way and thereforedoes not know either what the alternative approach entails.

Background: Since the end of the 1990`s the self-harm among adolescents have increased. Research is needed on how to improve the ability to care for these patients. That is why it is important to investigate how patients who self-harm and the next of kin are encountered by the caregivers.Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the experiences of encounters with caregivers at self-harm.Method: The study was based on narratives, which in this case means analysis of autobiographies. Five autobiographies were analyzed in accordance with a description by Dahlborg-Lyckhage. Four of these were written by self-harmers and one by a next of kin.Results: Three themes and twelve subthemes emerged which describe both negative and positive experiences of encounters with caregivers.

In all times school has defined and categorized pupils from a hypothetical normality. The National Agency for Education is today critical to how the municipalities provide for the necessity of special support for pupils with difficulties in school.Pupil`s assistants has been a growing profession in school during the last decade and their importance for the pupils is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study is to find out how the pupils think about having pupil`s assistant during the obligatory school on the basis of the ideas of power, knowledge, involvment and understanding. The study is based on qualitative interviews, consisting of half-structured questions, with eight pupils that have or have had pupil`s assistant during their time in senior compulsory school. The result notifies that the pupils feel powerless in school, they have no opportunity to affect and they do not think they are someone that could make any change.

This study examines the opinions of social workers regarding the social networks of people with a substance addiction. The intention was to get a more nuanced understanding of what characterizes a positive or negative social network, as well as which functions different types of social networks serve. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with seven social workers. More specifically the social workers were oriented towards working for social services with clients that struggle with substance abuse. The empirical material has been analyzed with a thematic analysis.

The retailing landscape has become even more competitive with an increasing number of store formats. One result of this can be seen within different retail-chains as they launch different formats that operate under the same name. Thus, consumers now have many alternatives and substitutes when it comes to choosing which format to shop from. This phenomenon has led consumes to shop across stores for the same brand. The objective of this study is to explain how consumers respond to various offers in different store formats and to determine whether the results differ if we compare a familiar brand with an unfamiliar brand.

Research shows that there is a lack of knowledge of adult students with ADHD. Most of all research focuses on children with ADHD in school. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how adult learners with ADHD experience academic studies related to cognitive difficulties, emotion, motivation, and their experience of SOC. The questions tried to determine how any cognitive difficulties and emotions are perceived, how students' motivation to study impacted and their experience of SOC based on studies in higher education. To answer the purpose and questions used qualitative interviews based on three students with ADHD using a hermeneutic method.

The purpose of the study is to investigate educators? attitudes and didactic positions on popular culture as a form and a means of children?s learning in preschool. The questions posed in the study are:? How do the educators define popular culture, which examples of popular culture do the educators give?? How do the educators describe the spoken and unspoken rules and positions regarding popular culture in preschool practice?? What are the risks and benefits when including popular culture in preschool, according to the educators?In this qualitative study four educators from different preschools have been interviewed. The preschools take as a starting point different educational philosofies.

This thesis is about how the front-staff in two service companies experience empowerment. Competition for business in today's society is becoming increasingly fierce, which means that they must find a way to differentiate themselves from competitors. Service has become a way to compete. Front-staff competence and ability to offer a good service is a crucial factor when the company's success is being measured.Empowerment in business is used as a tool to create motivation and satisfaction of individuals at work. Companies using empowerment can create the freedom and opportunities for employees to act at their own intelligence and discretion.

As commonly known, Social Media is a rapidly growing area. Since consumers to a great extent are present in Social Media, this new internet environment is increasing in relevance for consumer marketing. For controversial brands that are regulated in conventional marketing channels Social Media is an extra ordinary marketing opportunity, since social media is a legal grey area. More and more controversial brands are taking advantage of this opportunity, but the effects of these marketing activities are fairly unknown. Therefore there is an interest in examining the controversial brands marketing progression in Social Media.

AbstractThis report was undertaken at the request of the Management and maintenancedepartment of Swedish National Road Authority (Vägverket Region Sydöst) inJönköping.In 1992, the management and maintenance of Swedish roads were laid out onexternal contractors. When putting out a tender for the work, the foundation isfrom a national set of rules which are in constant change. This report is limited towinter road upkeep.The trend in the invitation for tenders is that it is moving from the moreconventional executional demands towards the less controlling demands. Thedownside of functional, less controlling demands is that it is difficult to articulatehow to measure them. The order authority therefore has to find ways to makesure to get what has been paid for.In connection to the invitation for tender of winter road upkeep for 2005, the newset of rules, ATB Vinter 2003 was deployed.The main purpose of this thesis is to see which the big changes in the set of rulesare and how these changes affect the organisation and activities of the contractor.It is also studied how the changes in execution is perceived by road users and howit affects the possibilities of the contractor to come as a newcomer to a new areaof administration.Interviews and examination of sets of rules has led to a list of a number ofchanges that the contractors feel affect their work in any sense.Views from road users that have come in to the order authority have beenscrutinized to see how they have experienced the change.

The first information recruiters have access to, when recruiting a new co-worker is the applicant´s CV. It may even happen that the applicants are sending a photo with the CV, which can lead to the possibility that the appearance of the applicant will affect the assessment. Previous research shows that individuals who are regarded as beautiful get a better assessment than those who are considered to be ugly or mediocre looking, but if this can be prevented through awareness, the problem can easily be counteracted. The purpose of this thesis is to, through an experimental study, investigate whether recruiters can avoid being affected by the applicant?s appearance in the assessment of their CV if they receive information about the stereotypical thinking that is tied to a person's appearance.

The aim of this thesis is to study the reading habits of Swedish librarians visualized by librarians from Götabiblioteken ? a collaboration of 14 public libraries in mid-Sweden ? focusing on the reading done on their spare time, even if work-related. We started with a survey sent out to 74 librarians in October 2013, answered by 56, and followed up by interviewing 7 of them in November.We tried to answer these questions:To what extent does the working librarians read on their spare time compared to before they started working?What literature do they read, now compared to before they started working?To what extent does their perception of what they should have read affect their private reading?In what way does a librarian in the beginning of their career differ in reading habits from the reading habits of a librarian with many years in the profession?The result of our study shows that most of the librarians read as much or more than before they started to work. They are more selective in their choice of literature and are affected by their work in it in different ways.

Title: Merkel with NSA on the telephoneThe aim of this essay is to study how Angela Merkel is being portrayed in context of NSAs surveillance in the Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet. The time period for the study is from the 24th of October to the 7th of November in the autumn of 2013. To concretize the aim three questions was formulated, how Angela Merkel was being portrayed in the material, how NSAs surveillance of Angela Merkel was being portrayed in the material and how different statements for various individuals in the material could affect the truth about the surveillance. The method chosen to study these questions was a discourse analysis, which also would contain parts of a linguistic analysis. The theories to support the method were Laclau & Mouffes discourse theory and Michel Foucault?s genealogical discourse analysis.

Most of my 16 students show a negative attitude towards mathematics and have difficulty understanding why they need mathematics to work as cooks. Their lack of knowledge has a negative effect on their work in the kitchen because they cannot master relatively simple mathematical solutions. The purpose of this study is to examine if an integrated working method of the subjects mathematics and cooking can change students? attitude towards mathematics and increase their understanding of the value of it in restaurant work. An integrated working method means to integrate the core subjects with programme specific subjects and that teaching is directed towards the main features of the vocational programme in order to create a holistic view.A theory of action research has been applied in this study, aiming to change something perceived as problematic through combining theory and practice in the cooking subject.

Studies have shown that politicians are significantly more likely to become victims of violent crime than other citizens in Sweden. In fact increasing political rank and engagement are directly proportionate to increased risk for violence. Threat towards politicians is not only dangerous to the individuals involved but also to the democratic system as a whole.Political scientists the world over have done a lot of research on democracy, but I have been unable to find a single method or theory that examines how violence, threat and harassment affect political leaders and democratic systems.The aim of this study is to expand the existing model made by Tommy Möller, professor in political science. In his model he presents 11 factors that affect political leaders ability to act. My aim is to develop his model by adding a 12 th factor ?violence, threat and harassment?.