The purpose of this Masters thesis is to investigate and describe the literary life of Madame de Staël, during the period of the French Revolution and the time shortly after. My intention is to do research on her impact and influence. I also want to examine her effect on Swedish literary society, with special references to Swedish authors. The method used is a qualitative one, where I have studied nonfiction and fiction connected with the field, for example Mme de Staëls own writings, which I make use of to illustrate the phenomena. During this period the society was dominated by patriarchical values and patterns of life.

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is a marketing activity that has grown popular in the USA and studies have been carried out that explore how American consumers perceive and react to CRM. In Sweden, however, CRM has not yet found ground to any greater extent, and therefore there is limited research on how Swedish consumers react to CRM and how they perceive it. In this study, eight Swedish consumers are interviewed regarding their perception of CRM. The main findings of the investigation are that Swedish consumers fit well into a model that is based on American consumers? responses to CRM.

The curious nature of humans has been the puzzle of psychologists, philosophers and scientists since the time we began to use those terms. Why are we curious? Why do we behave the way we do and why? The span of views on curiosity covers all. From being viewed as part of our animalistic nature and compared to instincts, to be viewed as a virtue to scientists and the reason behind why we explore space. Behaviorists tried to define it as an innate drive and some say that it has a crucial role in our ability to learn and understand.

Groupon is a popular group-buying website where they act as an intermediary between buyers and sellers. The company has grown rapidly and was established in Sweden in the year of 2010. The aim of this study is to investigate if businesses that have been marketed in Stockholm and that have been co-operating with Groupon have been affected in terms of customer loyalty and profitability. Furthermore the study also examines consumer?s opinions, purchase behavior and loyalty against Groupons business partners.

Previous research on Twitter use among nonprofit organizations has been centered on the US, thisessay Nonprofits on Twitter: a content analysis of Swedish nonprofits working for gender equalityseeks to expand that research to include nonprofit organizations operating in Sweden. By studying tenSwedish nonprofits all working to achieve gender equality this study can begin filling a gap in theexisting research. Focusing on both what kind of messages the organizations publish, and what kind ofmessages engage the organizations? followers. This is achieved by quantitative content analysis:categorizing messages into the categories Information, Community and Action, and measuring whichof these categories got the most shares, comments and likes.

In my study I have participated at the Fifth Dimension / Active Worlds site in Villa Gymnastiken in Ronneby, where I have worked both as an assistant to the project leader and as a researcher, but also as a participant together with the children. The children are working in a virtual world called Femtedim, created in a internet-based program named Active Worlds Education Universe. The Femtedim-world are bridging together two physical worlds in Ronneby and Copenhagen. My main focus is on an intervention that occurred in the 12th of March when the research-team in Copenhagen, which runs the project in Denmark, decided to create a new challenge for the children since some of them started to get bored. They added gravitation to the Femtedim-world, which lead to a few different reactions among the children.

Denna studie visar vad 4-5-åringar har för uppfattningar om stjärnorna och solen, vad de tror att stjärnorna och solen är för något och vad de har för tankar om fenomen kring dem. Genomförandet av studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer i samband med att barnen målar. Metoden har gjort det möjligt för barnen att uttrycka sina egna tankar. Resultatet visar att det finns många uppfattningar inom området hos barn 4-5 år. En del uppfattningar är realistiska, en del fiktiva.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine readers? advice in weblogs - frequently modified web pages with a series of archived entries. We have chosen to study a specific kind of entry that contains information about a book of fiction- not for children and young adults - and the bloggers? comments regarding that same book. The entries are published in ten weblogs that all deal with literature and reading.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med min uppsats var att utifrån originalverket Emma (1815) avJane Austen kunna bedöma vad två verk som inspirerats av romanen bör klassificeras som.De två verken var romanen Amanda (2006) av författaren Debra White Smith ochspelfilmen Clueless (1995) av regissören Amy Heckerling. Till min hjälp har jag lästaktuell forskning inom de två termerna adaption och fanfiction och utifrån detta gjort enjämförande analys på verken. Resultatet blev oväntat vagt, det visade sig att begreppen lågnärmre varandra än vad jag trott från början. Båda verken kan till viss del ses som enadaption på originalverket, på samma sätt som de även kan ses som fanfiction. Slutsatsenär dock att de båda verken passar bäst in under termen profic, som är en underkategoriinom fanfiction där författaren/regissören tjänar pengar på sin modifikation och intepublicerat verket i exempelvis ett obetalt nätforum som hobbyaktivitet..

In this paper I argue that the development of innovation ideas within the financial system of scientific research might have a counterpart within the financial system of the social sciences and the arts. The ideas of innovation share a common way to evaluate science in terms of how well it can contribute to economic growth. In the past two decades a similar development can be observed within Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ), one of the largest external financiers of the social sciences and the arts in Sweden. The idea of evaluating research used by the innovation ideas has grown popular within RJ, only it seems they evaluate research in terms of how well it fits into an international research community rather than how much it can contribute to economic growth as is the case within the innovation ideas. By examining the different ways of financing research that RJ has used during the last 2 decades, this paper aims to introduce a new perspective in which it is possible to understand the development within this type research funding as a part of a bigger system of development..

Health and fitness are two controversial and not easily defined topics that affect people in our modern society every day. We believe that we can find a link between individualism, globalization and the stress concerning weight and appearance ideals. Our bodies have turned into a popular subject for the media, and there is no indication that the interest will decline. As the world gets more artificial, "natural" ideals are getting more attention, such as the concept of a strong and healthy body. But there is also a downside, for example with health issues such as cardiovascular disease increasing following the birth of high-fat diets.

Since 2007 the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory has spread throughout the world. With its twenty million watchers it is one of the most popular sitcoms of our time. The starting point for this essay is that the humourus series with the more or less geeky main characters is more than just entertainment - it is a part of the mediatization of religion. This means that media is affecting the recipients? view on religion in general and the personal religion.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the information use among Swedish backpackers, both prior to departure and while travelling. The questions posed in this study are; which artefacts did the backpackers use, in what way were those used as tools of mediation within their social practice and how does a presumptive interaction between backpackers and information sources appear? The empirical material consists of interviews, held with eight backpackers, concerning their information use. The interviews reveal that a number of information sources are being consulted. The most commonly used sources identified in the empirical material are guide books, advice from other backpackers, fiction, TV programmes and periodicals.

Denna studie söker ta reda på vilka attityder till läsning som finns i en årskurs 9. En enkätundersökning ligger till grund för denna undersökning. Den utfördes i en mellansvensk skola i en klass i årskurs 9. Klassen bestod av 13 pojkar och 13 flickor varav alla pojkar svarade. Resultatet visade att det är både flickor och pojkar som tycker att läsning kan vara tråkigt och jobbigt.

Qigong was initiated by the Chinese government in the 1950´s as a domestic medical tradition to be included within a modern scientific framework. During the first decades it became popular among the élite. During the 70´s and 80´s scientific confirmation of the existence of qi contributed to its immense popularity among the population. Charismatic leaders with a traditional background were leading their groups in parks and the movement was booming. In 1992 Falun Gong was established by Li Hongzhi as qigong taken to a higher level.