AbstractAuthors: Åsa Höjer, Karl WijkmarkTitle: The intercultural communicator. A study of cultures? influence on communication.Level: BA Thesis in Media and Communication StudiesLocation: University on KalmarLanguage: SwedishNumber of pages: 67Date of seminar: 2009-01-15Advisor: Jens CavallinKey words: Intercultural communication, culture, Hofstede´s cultural dimensions, anxiety and uncertainty, self-confidence, high and low context, verbal and nonverbal communication, Telenor, Pakistan, Scandinavia.Case company: TelenorPurpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what cultural differences, regarding communication, that are present between Scandinavia and Pakistan. Furthermore the purpose is to illustrate which factors that are important for personnel working for Telenor, that are about to work in a foreign culture, in order to create effective intercultural communication.Methodology: The following study is a case study that has used a qualitative methodology with interviews conducted via e-mail. To be able to interpret and understand human experiences and situations a hermeneutical approach has been taken.

This thesis investigates the underlying factors behind sexual risk-taking and non-risk-taking behavior with regard to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) among adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. The Qualitative Approach was used for data collection and analysis and using the theory of Social Construction, the author explains how different contexts and aspects in the Zambian Society, that is Traditional, Socio-economic, Political, etc., influence the sexuality or sexual behavior of young people in Zambia. Hermeneutics was used to interpret the meanings in the texts/transcripts acquired through data collection and from the author?s knowledge and understanding of the Zambian historical and cultural contexts within which the participants of the research were constructed. Max Weber?s Ideal Type concept was also used to explain that each young individual?s sexual behavior is uniquely constructed by societal aspects.

This report is commissioned by the Water and Sewage Agency in The City of Mariehamn, Åland. The basic aim is to investigate positive or negative effects of a relocation of the sewage pipe from a wastewater treatment plant, Lotsbroverket. The environmental licence of Lotsbroverket is to be revised and The Environmental Appeal Board at Åland?s Government and Administrative Board has made demands that several possible locations in an outer water area should be examined. The present location of the sewage pipe is in Svibyviken, which has been classified as an ?inner water area?.The objective of this work is to study to which extent the nutrient loading from Lotsbroverket influence the environmental conditions in Svibyviken, and to investigate the suitability of different locations of the wastewater pipe from Lotsbroverket.The way a coastal area looks, i.e., its morphometry, determines to a large extent its ecological characteristics.

The purpose of our report was to analyze the effects of youth drug abuse on the families concerned. Youth drug abuse made us wonder about the effects on the family as a whole, of those involved with drug abuse. To answer this question, we decided to employ an empiric study in the form of interviews with four teenagers, five parents and four drug counselors. Because our intent was to understand rather than try to measure the problems involved, we decided on a qualitative method. Our method built upon semi-structured interviews using open questions, where the interviewees were free to express their own thoughts and opinions.

Purpose: Reading aloud to children and having a conversation about a book, which is read to them, has attracted much attention as important factors that influence children's language development. Language development for children is one of the most important tasks that the preschool- teachers have, and according to ?Läroplanet?, all children must have the opportunity to develop their language. The aim of this study was to examine how reading aloud, and by letting them speak about a certain book, ?boksamtal? impacts preschool-children`s ability to develop their language according to preschool- teachers.Method: I have used a qualitative method by interviewing four preschool- teachers.

The purpose of this essay is to explain which factors influence the disciplinary effect of visible constant surveillance on the people under surveillance. In order to do this we have used recorded video from a tv-show called Big Brother, which is characterized by this kind of surveillance. In addition, an open-ended interview was performed with one of the participants from the show. We have, based on a number of theoretical assumptions, as well as reflections from the interview, precisely defined expected symptoms of the participants, that would indicate when the disciplinary effect was low respectively high. Our observations and analysis allows us to conclude that the disciplinary effect of surveillance in many situations is counteracted when surveillance is constant, leading to relatively low levels of disciplinary effect in Big Brother..

The aim of this master thesis is to examine how much parents interfere with their children's choice of literature and if they have an inf1uence on what their children read. lt also includes the children's point of view as weil as the librarian's.Twenty-one children answered a questionnaire, fourteen parents and one librarian were interviewed. An attempt was made to divide their answers into several sections and to compare the results with extensive source material.The result shows that the parents in our study, from a general point of view, are interested in what their children read, but they do not influence them into certain types of literature by purpose..

The consumption and energy use in today's society contributes to the on-going climate change that creates a debt of life quality for future generations (www, DN, 2007, a). The resources that are used by humans exceed by far what is sustainable (www, Regeringen, 2007, a). The purpose of this paper is to examine how a message about energy conservation should be designed to reach youths. This will be attempted by showing their thoughts on energy and environmental issues and also what it would take for them to get more involved in these issues. The views of the youths are gained by a number of focus group-interviews, which where carried out in the fall of 2007, with kids in the ages 12 to 19. Apart from these interviews, interviews where also conducted with representatives from different youth organisations in Sweden, which gave their views on how to get a message across to kids.

The aim of our study is to explore the empowerment process among micro-business owners in Kayamandi, a black township of Stellenbosch in South Africa. What are the positive and negative implications for the empowerment process? Another aim is to find out the role of local and international support in this process. The theoretical framework of this study revolves around the concepts of gender, power and empowerment. Our methods are qualitative interviews and observations.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how personnel working with asylum cases at the Swedish Migration Board handle their role as administrators of asylum. For the study 7 asylum administrators were interviewed and the analysis was made with influence from the method critical discourse analysis. To understand the themes in the analysis I have used Michael Lipskys theory about street-level bureaucrats. Main results from the analysis of the interviews were that the street-level bureaucrats had certain strategies for managing the difficult aspects of the job. The interviews also showed that the participating informants had difficulties with different identity positions..

Bakgrund: Den postoperativa smärtans utfall påverkas av en rad olika faktorer såsom kirurgins lokalisation och omfattning, barnets ålder och dess förväntningar. I mitten av 1900-talet sågs negativa konsekvenser av att barn blev lämnade ensamma på sjukhus. Detta har lett fram till en mer familjecentrerad vård där föräldrarna har en viktig roll. Vården bygger på ett nära samarbete, där föräldrarna är en bro mellan barnet och vårdpersonalen. Föräldrarna kan med sin närvaro trösta, stötta och hjälpa barnet att lindra sin smärta.

There are no reliable, objective and simple methods today for measuring pain in horses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and describe measuring of mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) values with a pressure algometer in clinically pain free riding horses at the riding school of Strömsholm. In this study there were 24 horses. Tape recording and electromyelografi (EMG) was used in an attempt to increase objectivity in the examination. MNT increased with age, however sex and colour had no influence.

This essay is about boundaries between, "us and them", in the Swedish culture and immigrant culture in Sweden. The focus is to examine the political interest of the citizens to understand other ethnic cultures who lives in Sweden. One question concerns how the borderlines between different cultures has been painted partly through blogs but also by the media. Is this a result of ignorance or does it depends because of the influence of certain individuals. To find this out, I will study various electronic sources such as blogs, forums and news articles.

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 purpose of this study is to hightlight experiences of living in a relationship where BDSM is being exercised. The acronym is an umbrella term for bondage/discipline, dominance/submission and sadomasochism. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five persons who define themselves as BDSM practitioners. The overall questions of this study are: How does the BDSM practice appear in everyday life? How did the practice start and how has it developed over time? What's included in the sexual BDSM practice? The empirical material has been analyzed with interactionism as the theoritical framework. The picture that emerges is complex.