The aim of this paper is to explain how the European Union?s common strategy for theCommon Foreign- and Security Policy (CFSP) will change with the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon. A comparative case study and qualitative method is used. On the basis of Smith?s theory of institutionalization we will analyze two member states: France and Denmark.

This Masters thesis aims to study the reading habits of readers of romantic fiction, especially focusing on gender issues. The main areas studied are the function of reading romances compared with reading other genres, and how the readers value romantic and general literature. The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with seven readers of romances, five women and two men. The theoretical background is based on reader response theory and gender theory. Before I started interview the readers I asked them to read two romances; Sidney Sheldons - The best Laid Plans, and Rosamunde Pilchers - The End of Summer, which we later discussed during the interviews.

The purpose of this study was to do a narrative survey of the discussion about violence in partner relationships that is held in research literature. The question at issue was: How do research literature discuss violence in partner relationships, with focus on heterosexual relationships? The eight primary documents that have been chosen are written by researchers, professional therapists, National Counsil for Women's protection (Nationellt Råd för Kvinnofrid, NRK) and Swedish Government Official Report (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, SOU). To investigate the theories, discover the similarities and differences between them and how they can complement each other, the documents statements has been analyzed with a dialectic-hermeneutic approach and social constructionism and discourse theory.The research findings showed that the gender perspective theory, the psychodynamic theory and the social psychology theory have a few things in common, but that they on the whole are different and contradict each other. The gender perspective theory dominates the discussion but needs to be combined with the other theories to give a more all-embracing understanding.

Changes in the society engender changes in the practice of the auditor profession. Stricter laws, more detailed recommendations, and demands from the auditor?s clients have increased. The auditor constitutes a profession and therefore it is important that there is a trust since the auditor is the one that certifies the quality of the company?s economical information.

Denna uppsats behandlar hur finansiell bootstrapping används i små företag. Vårt huvudsyfte för denna studie är att öka förståelsen för finansiell bootstrapping genom att studera företags nyttjande av bootstrapping. Vi har begränsat studien till företag i Västerbottens Län samt, inom turismsektorn främst av ett egenintresse för området och därför att vi utgått ifrån att bootstrapping är vanligt förekommande för berörda företag. Studien har utförts ur företagarnas perspektiv då vi helt utgått ifrån deras erfarenheter och upplevelser.För att uppnå en ökad förståelse för användandet av finansiell bootstrapping har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie bestående av semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fem turismföretagare, och en konsult med stark anknytning till turismbranschen. För att nå en djupare bild av företagarnas erfarenheter och åsikter har vi valt en hermeneutiskkunskapssyn.Referensramen för denna studie utgörs av ett koncept kretsande kring,finansieringsalternativ, nätverk och finansiell bootstrapping då vi anser dessa tre begrepp tätt sammankopplade och tillsammans, ger en sammanfattande bild av samverkande faktorer för huvudtemat ? finansiell bootstrapping.Vi har angripit studiens problem ? hur finansiell bootstrapping används av företag ? med en abduktiv forskaransats.

In this project we have used the theory of analytical mechanics to derive equations of motion for complex mechanical systems in order to study their behaviour over time. Even if the theory provides powerful tools to tackle tough problems which would be very hard to solve by methods of Newtonian mechanics, you are still relatively limited without running any computer simulations. One realises that in a faster rate it will be an incredibly difficult task to find an analytical solution when the degrees of freedom increases. Even if one would succeed to derive the equations, one still has to solve them to get the information of the systems behavior. Of experience one knows that the equations in general are nonlinear and hence must be integrated numericaly.

The purpose of this study is to examine a brand?s green marketing and its consumers? perception of it in order to compare these views. The idea is to find a potential gap and what effect it may have on the brand. A case study has therefore been made with the grocery market brand Coop with focus on organic food. The material used consists of texts from Coop?s website to represent their brand.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate changes within four discourses identified in the curriculum material of the Swedish library education in Borås Bibliotekarielinjen dating from 1977 and 1985 and its successor Library and Information Science Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap dating from 1995, 1999. My method used is a text analytic method primarily derived from the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, yet with addition of tools from the critical discourse analysis of Fairclough. By identifying three floating signifiers within the material, i.e information, library, and librarian, and thereafter identifying their fixation, a pattern of resemblance and diversity in the fixating signs appeared between different courses of the curriculum dating from 1999. Hence I could establish an order of discourse consisting of four library discourses, a knowledge organisation discourse, a user discourse, a society discourse and a management discourse. Using this discursive order as a pattern, I could trace these four discourses back in time within the material dating from 1995, 1985 and 1977.

Under tidigt 80-tal växte olika sorter av kommunikationsmodeller fram, bland annat Daft och Lengels, Media Richness Theory. Denna teori var baserad på den tidens kommunikationsmönster. Idag nästan 20 år senare har vi sett explosionsartad IT-utveckling vilket har medfört förändringar i det dagliga kommunikationsmönstret. I denna uppsats undersöker vi om Media Richness Theory fungerar på ny teknik med hänsyn till dagens utökade kommunikationsmetoder. Vi studerar bland annat användnings- och påverkningsmönster ur ett abduktivt perspektiv, det vill säga både kvalitativt och kvantitativt.

In today?s changing environment, creation of projects by organizations has become more common. The problem is, though, that the knowledge of the subject is still limited which causes many projects to fail. This has made it extra important to have a good project manager whocanlead the project in the right direction. While doing this both the project method and the project manager?s motivation are contributing sources.

The purpose of this study was to examine how young managers (26-32 years old) in municipal old-age care organizations, in Skåne and Blekinge, experience their professional roles as managers in relation to their age. One of the questions asked in this study was whether managers experienced that their age affected their managerial position, and in that case, how? In order to investigate this, a qualitative method was used, including interviews and observations. Seven interviews with young managers were conducted. My approach in the working process was influenced by Grounded theory as defined by Glaser and Strauss (1968).

The purpose of this essay is to analyse how and why culture and tradition is created and maintained within a minor student society at a Swedish university by looking at its history. The West Coast Nation student society provided the material which was subsequently analysed and three sociological perspectives were applied in order to give the study a theoretical base. In order to investigate the purpose of the society, durkheimian theories on functionalism were applied. Moreover, Bourdieu?s thoughts on social fields were used as well as Elias? theories on the established and the outsiders.

In this thesis I will examine Willy Brandt's new Ostpolitik with the help of Robert Putnam's analytical framework of two-level games perspective and the theory of social constructivism. Firstly, I will briefly set out the development of Germany's history before it was divided into the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic in 1949. After that I present West Germany's foreign policy from 1949 to 1969 in order to show how Willy Brandt continued and broke with different foreign policy doctrines. Finally, I want to illustrate his new Ostpolitik and the international and domestic factors, which contributed to its realisation. The main question of this essay is: How significant were the changes of the West German society for the realisation of the new Ostpolitik from 1969 to 1973? One of the most important findings in this essay is that on the one hand that many West Germans had accepted that their country was divided and on the other hand that many groups in the society such as the significant newspaper Die Zeit and intellectuals supported the new Ostpolitik.

Denna uppsats är tänkt som en introduktion till ämnet humor i landskapsarkitektur - ett ämne som ännu inte diskuterats i nämnvärd utsträckning. Den riktar ett särskilt fokus mot humorteorin Benign violation theory och undersöker om teorin kan användas i landskapsarkitektur. Först introduceras de tre tidigaste humorteorierna för att ge en bild av tre huvudsakliga modeller som finns för att förklara humor. Därefter presenteras Benign violation theory och enkätundersökningen som prövar dess applicerbarhet på landskapsarkitektur. Undersökningens resultat verkar tyda på att bilder som stämmer överens med teorins villkor verkligen uppfattas som roliga, men det finns stora felmarginaler och det råder behov av fler undersökningar i ämnet..

Problembakgrund och problemdiskussion: Företagens utdelningar är av intresse för investerare ur ett flertal synvinklar. De ger aktieägaren en direktavkastning på investerat kapital, men beskrivs också kunna förklara ett företags framtida prestationer. För de teorier som presenterats inom det företagsekonomiska området finns de som förespråkar både positiva och negativa samband kring utdelningars effekt på företagets resultattillväxt. De senaste åren har nya empiriska studier som visar på motsatta samband presenterats. Tidigare studier tillsammans med att forskning ej hittats för den svenska marknaden har ökat författarnas intresse kring det samband som resulterat i följande problemformulering.Problemformulering: Finns det ett positivt samband mellan svenska börsbolags utdelningsandel och deras resultattillväxt?Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara om det finns ett positivt samband mellan utdelningsandel och framtida tillväxt i resultat för urvalet av svenska företag listade vid Large Cap på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm vid utförandet av studien, våren 2012.