Many of us have grown up hearing or using words meant as insults or negative adjectives that were in fact names for social groups. Most of them have gone unquestioned in the mainstream consciousness, but the term Gay in the generally negative meaning has in the past years been given attention as offensive and homophobic, with debates emerging in response over whether or not this is true, particularly on the internet. It is the articles and forum threads from these debates that make out the empirical material for a qualitative study as I ask what these people?s thoughts are about this term and how it is perceived.After a qualitative coding and analysis of these texts, and interpretation of the results based on Erving Goffman?s theory of Phantom acceptance and stigma terms, Judith Butler?s theory of performativity, Ferdinand de Sassure?s theory of signifier and signified and how it connects to the community and Baudrillards theory of simulacra, this is the principal conclusion that I have drawn:For some of the people in this debate, the term Gay and its use is about homophobia and heterosexism, though mostly it?s not overt but a subconscious part of the continued dehumanization and stigmatization of homo- and bisexual people. This is a position I callThe socially focused skepticism.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine and compare the process of starting a school library at schools which haven't had a school library before, and to examine and compare the experience of this process according to the principals and the persons responsible for the school library.I have examined two Swedish independent primary schools (age 6-15 years). I have made qualitative interviews with the principals and the persons responsible for the new school library. In all, I have made seven interviews. As requested by the new Swedish Educational Act, both schools had recently started creating school libraries. One of the schools had recruited a half-time teacher-librarian and the other had no staffing at all.In the interviews, I have examined the attitudes of the informants towards school libraries, if this attitude has changed during the process of starting the school library, the informants' experiences during this process and the informants' views on the school library as an agent for student achievement.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att översätta och lokalisera samt utvärdera en chatt från svenska till engelska. Chatten utgör en social konversationsmodul, med en virtuell agent i ett matematiklärspel. Chatten är implementerad med AIML, som representerar indata- och utdatayttranden med mönster, bestående av ord, fraser eller meningar. Översättningen innebar att översätta dessa mönster i en ordlista. Denna användes sedan för att generera en ny AIML-representation på målspråket, det vill säga engelska.

The purpose of this study was to examine the routines of performance related pay systems in two Swedish municipal upper secondary schools. A second purpose was to examine what data was included for evaluation of a co-worker?s performance and how a principal collects data. The purpose was also to examine a principal and teachers´ view of performance related pay systems and if it was possible to note an agreement. Principals have been interviewed and teachers have answered a questionnaire to fulfil the purposes of this study.The study shows that the municipality had a good routine that included individual discussions with co-workers about their salary and had fixed municipal criteria.

During installation and operation of a geothermal heat pump system leakage of an antifreezing agent can appear in a borehole and leak out in surrounding groundwater. To guarantee high quality drinking water for generations to come Sweden has dedicated some areas as water protection areas. The local authority gives permits for the installation of heat pump systems within water protection areas. Before giving a permit the local authority makes an evaluation of the risks involved in installation and operation of the system within the area. By keeping a certain distance between the protected object in the area and the heat pump system the risk of polluting the protected object with an anti-freezing agent can be reduced.This thesis makes a comparison between three different methods of calculating an appropriate distance between the protected object and the heat pump system.

Adam Smith?s economic theory is often subject to criticism, in which it is claimed to be inherently inconsistent. Recently, criticism from well-known scholars has arisen claiming Smith should be characterized a labor value theorist anticipating Karl Marx. This study seeks to analyze whether such criticism is legitimate. Firstly, the economic theory of Smith is discussed in terms of consistency, and secondly, a number of typical and main points of the critique, from the most influential of his contemporary critics, are lifted up and analyzed.

Rooted in Industrial Ecology (IE) theory, this report evaluates how urban agricultural concepts and techniques, can contribute to improved ecological sustainability within the inner city boundaries of Stockholm. An overarching literary study as well as an interview was carried out, resulting in a qualitative analysis followed by suggestions for practical implementations. A substantial convergence was found between the eco-restructuring objectives of IE and the principal motives for urban agriculture. Consequently, eco-restructuring objectives are found in varying degrees in the presented urban agricultural techniques. Industrial symbioses, permaculture and combinations of urban agricultural techniques are tools which are capable of corresponding adequately to the diversity of urban settings.

The aim of this paper is to analyze aid, grouped into sectors, and its effect on growth in developing countries, to find out which type of aid has had the most positive effect on growth. We compiled a regression analysis based on panel data over 81 developing countries from 1975-1999. In our first regression we considered and group countries by institutional quality, in the other we considered and group countries after regional differences. As a measure on institutional quality we used the KKZ-index. The principal aim of this paper was to find out what kind of aid is the most efficient in its influence on growth in LDC?s.

Denna uppsats handlar om mål- och resultatstyrning som styrinstrument för staten. Mål- och resultatstyrning av statliga myndigheter sker genom regleringsbrev där politikerna ställer de övergripande målen för myndighetens verksamhet. Det är viktigt för myndigheten och det berörda departementet att hitta ett styrsystem som fungerar på bästa sätt. Det gäller här frågan om en effektiv ekonomistyrning. I vid mening är det en fråga om medborgarnas förtroende för den offentliga sektorns styrning, som skall garantera att skattemedel används på effektivaste sätt.

Sedan början av 1990-talet har både antalet VD-byten och andelen institutionellt ägande konstant ökat. Tidigare studier visar på att ägarstrukturen i bolag påverkar frekvensen varmed VD:ar byts ut. Däremot har det inte genomförts någon svensk studie avseende sambandet mellan VD-byten och institutionella ägare. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida institutionella ägare i svenska börsnoterade bolag under tidsperioden 2001 till 2009 påverkar VD-byten. För att besvara syftet har en kvantitativ metod valts.

Fusionernas antal och storlek har ökat för varje år, och företagsvärlden har präglats av en fusionsyra som är frapperande. Det faktum att fusioner förekommer i så stor utsträckning samtidigt som det påvisas att en majoritet av företagsaffärerna misslyckas förefaller oss vara en paradox. Syftet med uppsatsen är att utifrån ekonomisk teori studera de motiv och drivkrafter som ligger bakom företagsfusioner, och diskutera de olika aktörernas medverkan i fusionsprocessen. I uppsatsen diskuteras också i viss mån vilket utfallet av en fusion blir beroende på vilka motiv och drivkrafter som föreligger. De teorier som används är dels teorier avseende motiv och drivkrafter bakom fusioner, dels appliceras public choice teorin och principal-agent teorin på fusionsprocessen och dess aktörer.Detta beroende på att teorierna behandlar den enskilda individens nyttomaximering och problemet med informationsasymmetri.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe how principals apprehend the school library. In order to respond to this I formulated three questions: How was the improvement of the school libraries carried out in one municipality? Is the school library experienced as a part of the schools organization? How is the use of the school´s library experienced? To be able to answer these questions, for the purpose of this thesis, I have studied relevant literature on school libraries, the school organization and literature on qualitative methods. I have made six qualitative interviews. The objects of the interviews were three librarians and three principals.

Aim: The aim of this thesis is to through a survey, gain information about the tenant owners knowledge concerning their own and the real estate agents rights and obligations, this to elucidate one of the factors we think play a big part in the general publics dissatisfaction about the real estate agents and the negative picture painted of them in media today. By throwing light on the assumed lack of knowledge in this area we hope to contribute to improve the information communicated to the customers so that they can feel safer when consulting a real estate agent in this matter.Our main question in this thesis is: How much knowledge does tenant owners and tenant owners to be have concerning the division of responsibilities when it comes to selling and buying a tenant owned flat and what problems can the presumed lack of knowledge in this area lead to?Method: We have used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Data has been collected through a survey which we have put together and analyzed both based on the results we got from the survey but also based on the reactions we received from the participants. The results are presented both in text and in diagrams.Result & Conclusions: The results we got from the survey indicate that the knowledge among our participants is much worse than what would be desired.

In January 2004 two members of the Pentecostal community Knutby Filadelfia in Uppsalamunicipality, Sweden, were shot by their fellow member Sara Svensson. With a qualitative hermeneutic case study as the principal method this essay takes on the task of not only investigating if and how Stockholm Syndrome can be used as a model for interpreting and understanding the violent incident in Knutby Filadelfia, but also to see if the unique characteristic of the Knutby incident can tell us something about Stockholm Syndrome as a model for understanding violence in religious movements. The material shows Stockholm Syndrome as having been present in Knutby because of among other things, a mileu, leadership and theology that supported the normalization of abuse and the enabling and maintaining of self punishment in the community. While Stockholm Syndrome still is a controversial theory this study shows that it can be used as a powerful tool in the understanding of violence in religious contexts..

View description: The purpose of this study is to investigate in what way the mother tongue language education integrates in a compulsory school activities and also which significance it has to the students who studies mother tongue language. My questions are following:How does the cooperation look like between mother tongue languages teacher, teacher and principal?How do students perceive the mother tongue language education?How does the mother tongue language education take place at the school?Method: This investigation is classified as a qualitative study and consists of theoretical points and empirical material such as interviews and observations.  Based on hermeneutic view of tradition which means that I interpret all my material.Results: My results of this study is that the mother tongue language education does not integrate with the other school activities and the mother tongue language teachers does not cooperate with other teachers or principal at this school. The reason for this is mainly because the mother tongue language teachers work situation. I´ve also seen that language has to do with the creation of a personal identity.