The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine how a Swedish public library's collection of books on African history looks like, who the writers are and how Africa and its history areportrayed. The focus of the analysis is on the front and back covers and in some cases on theinformation texts inside the books. The chosen library is the city library of Umeå. The 15books examined were found on the shelf classified as Kp ? the classification for African history according to the Swedish SAB-classification system.

Students who regularly cause trouble in school, how can they learn anything? That is what we asked ourselves after having visited a special school for ?troublesome students? (in Swedish resursskola). Our main purpose has been to find out how these students have experienced the help they have been given in those schools.We have interviewed students, parents and a social worker in order to find out if the alternative pedagogical methods used by those schools give the students better opportunities to perform their schoolwork. The interviews have been made two or three years after the end of their studies in compulsory school (grade 9). We have used a qualitative method with semi structured interviews and also an evaluation model.

The northern province of Sweden has in both literature and film been depictured as something foreign and mythical, unlike the rest of the country. It has been my purpose to show in this essay that the systematic categorization of Norrland and its literature reveals multiple criteria known to define the colonial era. By reading the novel Stallo by author Stefan Spjut with postcolonial structures in mind I aim to show how the author uses Swedish mythology and through the presence of The Other criticizes colonial structures in place to this day. By examining the gothic atmosphere I intend to indicate how the trolls in the novel figures as both a horror element as well as a representation of nature itself. It is my belief that the author by further reinforcing the mythological in relation to Norrland addresses the problem at hand.

I två analyser av filmerna; Do The Right Thing av Spike Lee (1989) och Hemligheter och lögner av Mike Leigh (1996), har jag undersökt  hur och varför samhällsproblematik  som berör klass- och rasfrågan presenteras på film utifrån hur cultural studies teoretiskt förhåller sig till problematiska relationer mellan kulturella identiteter i USA och Storbritannien. Jag kom fram till att identifikationen av den kulturella identiteten var olika i respektive länder; USA och Storbritannien. I USA var rastillhörigheten utgångspunkten för den kulturella identiteten och i Storbritannien var det klasstillhörigheten utgångspunkten för den kulturella identiteten..

The aim of this examination paper is to investigate the use of linguistic feedback among male senior high school students. Two groups consisting of male students preparing for ensuing studies, and two groups consisting of male students taking vocational studies, was interviewed in four separate interviews. By comparing how these four groups used linguistic feedback in conversation noticeable differences has been identified. For example, the boys preparing for ensuing studies used linguistic feedback the most. Also, all interviewed groups used linguistic feedback the most when they agreed with each other.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the descriptions of characters and settings in four autobiographies. The main question is: What picture of women and men, of the West and the Orient do these books provide? To answer this question we have formed three sub questions, which are: In what ways are main and minor characters described? In what ways are the key settings, and the Western and Oriental societies described? Which themes are dealt with, and from what points of departure? The theoretical framework is based on a postcolonial theoretical perspective, where the concept of binary opposites and Edward W. Said?s ideas about orientalism are crucial.

It is popular to keep reptiles as pets in Swedish households. The number of households reporting reptile ownership is more than 15 000 (SCB, 2006). This means that a veterinary practice should consider how to take care of reptiles as patients. The aim of this study was to examine literature and studies concerning safe handling and restraint of reptiles as well as the effects of acute and long term stress response and to suggest a simplified plan for handling reptiles in a veterinary practice. The result of literary studies is that common recommendations for safe handling and restraint of reptiles is based on old techniques and experiences from safe handling of wild animals. The main concern is safety for the veterinary nurse and for the reptile. Stress studies indicate that acute stress response is not harmful for the animal i long term. On the other hand studies of the effect of prolonged stress are not conclusive.

This thesis examines how a company can get an effective, high quality, maintenance of their computerized systems. After literary studies concerning the life cycle activity Maintenance we have studied how the maintenance at the department IT Supply of IKEA IT AB in Älmhult is carried out. What steps and measures in the analyzing of results of changes are carried out and if they have predefined processes for changes. Based on the facts we found most important in our literary studies we have created a model and theoretically applied this to the maintenance of a specific system to see what they can work with to further improve the quality and efficiency in their maintenance. The basis for our thesis is literary studies and the collected material has been used as a foundation for the research at the company, which was carried out through interviews.

Den du är, inte den du förväntas vara ? en kvalitativ studie av läroböcker i religionskunskap och dess behandling av kön, sexualitet och etnicitet (Who you are, not who you are expected to be - a qualitative studie of textbooks in religious studies and the treatment of gender, sexuality and ethnicithy) is a qualitative study with the primary focus to examine textbooks as a resource for the teacher. Focus is put on how gender, sexuality and ethnicity is portrayed in textbooks for religious studies in upper secondary school. The textbooks are also examined as a resource based on their usefulness. To do this a hermeneutic approach was taken and the textbooks were studied based on the knowledge they provided and their readability.

This study aims at examining if abnormal returns have existed on theSwedish stock market surrounding the ex-dividend period between the years2002 and 2006. The ex-dividend period that is studied is the ex-dividend dayplus the following five days. The stocks that have been studied are the thirtymost traded stocks which together constitute the index OMXS30.Furthermore, the study investigates if the size of the dividend has an effecton the size of the abnormal returns.Previously performed studies on both the Swedish stock market and foreignstock markets have shown that abnormal returns exist during the ex-dividendperiod. However, the results from these studies are not unambiguous, why itis interesting to follow up these studies with a new study.The method used for investigating the existence of abnormal returns aroundthe ex-dividend period has taken its starting point in the previouslyperformed studies. However, some changes have been made in order tocalculate for differences in risk between different stocks (using beta) whichhas been neglected in the previous studies.The results of our study are that abnormal returns have existed for four outof six days in the ex-dividend period when calculating a mean value over allfive years.

AbstractTitle: Interactivity and participation - a qualitative study about the making of machinima withWorld of Warcraft (Interaktivitet och och deltagande ? en kvalitativ studie kring skapandet avmachinima med World of Warcraft)Number of pages: 68 total, 50 without appendixAuthor: Peter BrandbergTutor: Else NygrenPeriod: Autumn 2006Course: Media and Communication Studies CUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this study is to take a closer look at the phenomenon machinima by analysing a number of specific movies from the site worldcraftmovies.com. This analyse is focusing on how the content of these movies relate to the wider game culture of the MMORPG World of Warcraft, what specific elements in the movies is referring to and if there is differences or similarities between different genres (or categories).Material/Method: The method used in analysing the movies is a combined method inspired by hermeneutic, semiotics and discourse analysis.Main results: Instead of answers this study raises many questions about the diverse content of the movies. A general division can be seen between movies focusing on the games rules and movies that are trying to present a fictive world. But the study also shows how there are many movies moving between these two points.

Objective: To study the evidence on physical activity (PA) as an effective preventive strategy for depression.Methods: A search of electronic databases was performed for articles between 2007 and 2012, both original research and review articles, concerning the link between PA and depression on children, youth and adults. Three reviews, five longitudinal and two cross sectional studies were included.Results:  PA reduced the likelihood of depression in many studies and a sedentary or inactive lifestyle increased the risks for mental health symptoms such as depression. One study showed that low PA in childhood increased the odds of depression as an adult and other studies on teenagers saw a connection and mediation between PA and self-esteem whereas physical fitness showed no mediating effect. Many of the studies and reviews point out the insecurity regarding the dose-response association and the difficulties in defining causality.Conclusion: PA might have a preventive effect on depression. Some evidence exist to support that PA in childhood prevents depression in adults.

 The aim of this paper was to investigate how many students studying Swesdish as a foreign language, at secondary school level, in Tierps kommun, that have dropped out and their reasons for doing so. The reason for this is the report from Skolverket, stating that the rate of drop outs at this level is very high. To investigate this, a quantitative method was used. A questionnaire was sent out to all the students that dropped out 2005-2008. The result showed that the two main reasons for leaving their studies were that the individuals had found a job or thought the studies were too hard. The research also showed that the majority of the students had not been in contact with Career counseller prior to ending their studies. We came to the conclusion that there might be a need for developing the teaching and to work out routines for guidance at drop out situations.

The aim of this study was to determine which type of fluid to use in trauma care to improve patient survival. The method used was a systematic review, where a total of 18 studies were reviewed and 13 included in the results. The inclusion criteria used in this study were Randomized controlled trial, or studies relevant for the purpose, written in English and published during the last ten years. The studies were identified in the PubMed data base. The results showed that in trauma with hypovolaemia, colloid infusion has a better effect than infusion of crystalloid fluid on blood pressure and colloid infusion reduced the body's cascade systems in a beneficial way. Colloid infusion administered to head injury patients lowered their intracranial pressure more than crystalloid infusion.

The aim of my thesis is to unveil orientalistic powerstructures in the new national curriculum for religious studies in Swedish upper secondary schools. Western imperialism and modernistic ideals has formed the Swedish perception of what constitutes as Swedish, this perception also influences the Swedish religious understanding. This understanding is imbedded in the national curriculum for religious studies which enables a western hegemony to prevail..