Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?.

The concept of sustainable development has been pervasive in recent years and many organizations choose to implement sustainability and adapt their activities accordingly. The purpose of this study have been to explore how a collaboration on the use of waste materials may look to analyze what influences cooperation. A case study has been carried out examining a Swedish state regional project aimed at creating partnerships between actors and utilizing textile waste with the help of design. The study was conducted using qualitative methods and the collection of data has been done through interviews and by examining documents. The results show that there are seven key factors that affect cooperation: expectations, commitment, internal communication, a strong non-profit actor, individual treatment, personal networks and the diversity of actors.

Women ledaers and profitability, is there a correlation? Earlier research show different outcome on the correlation between women leaders and profitability. A Swedish consultant firm, Caran has a belief that more women leaders would create more financial profit, we ask us if that is the true situation. Using two different IC measurement methods we have shown the difficulties in calculate intagible resources, which methods that can/ can not be used and if women leders create financial value. We found the women leaders in Caran to add more value per dollar spent on the woman leaders than the value added per dollar spent on men leaders.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera om Handelsbankens vinstandelsstiftelse Oktogonen ger upphov till motiverade anställda samt om Oktogonen och bankens låga personalomsättning har ett samband. Studien bygger på en fallstudie. Datainsamling har skett genom främst intervjuer och tidigare forskning i form av böcker och artiklar. Resultatet har visat att viktiga faktorer för att uppnå en låg personalomsättning inom banken bland annat är en decentraliserad organisation samt att anställda känner en trygghet till sin arbetsgivare. Oktogonen påverkar i begränsad utsträckning, dock främst äldre medarbetares rörlighet..

The purpose of this essay is to study how the local creators of a "master plan" for the swedish city Kristinehamn, the years between 1940 to -43, looked on their planning. It is an analysis of ideas case study. A hypothesis is upheld for the research: that the local physical planning had largely extended ambitions what regards central state control in a way that is similar to planned economy. Questions that are asked include: Was the planning assumed to be a tool for the state to regulate the environment? Can the planning be seen as a mean to control the society in time and space? The essay search for verification of the hypothesis by a theoretical analysis apparatus made upp of ideal types.

Motivation är en viktig drivkraft för individers beteende. Den har betydelse för att handlingen såväl påbörjas som uppehålls. Forskning inom området har konstaterat att motivation uppkommer av både inre och yttre faktorer samt att en del handlingar är relativt omotiverade. Den hierarkiska modellen för inre och yttre motivation anger även att motivation förekommer på flera nivåer inom individen. Studien undersökte relationen mellan högskolestudenters kontextbundna motivation, globala självkänsla och generaliserade locus of control.

International studies show that literacy skills have deteriorated among Swedish students. Empirical evidence states that before being able to learn to read it is important to have phonological awareness. From this perspective, an intervention study was launched to examine whether pupils´ phonological awareness could be enhanced through the work of a special model during a limited time. The aim of the study is to investigate whether six pupils in preschool develop phonological awareness based on Bornholmsmodellen during a limited period of time. The control group was made up of the remaining pupils in the preschool class.

Purpose of the study was to illustrate how emotional competence can be important for leadership and to explore the possibility of improving emotion perception ability after training. Participants in this study were 40 managers, divided into control and experimental group, within public administration. The participants implemented a data-based emotion perception test, which were done twice at every occasion, with intervention consisting of information or education between test- and retest. The result showed a clear improvement after intervention, in which no difference was found between control and experimental group, which has been discussed on the basis of the likelihood of a training effect occurred between test-retest. Conclusions about emotional competence or leadership ability could not be drawn from the results of the emotion perception test.

The present study examines the effect of a nine-hour Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) intervention for teachers who experience stress. Twenty-two teachers from four different counties in southern Sweden were randomly allocated to an ACT intervention (n=15) and a control group (n=7). The ACT condition received three three-hour sessions of ACT over a six-week period, and the control group received a three-hour stress lecture at one occasion. At a follow-up four-weeks after completed intervention, ACT participants showed significant in-group differences on stress, psychological flexibility, general health, and burnout. At a between group comparison, only psychological flexibility was significantly enhanced at the follow-up.

Styrning för framgång - En fallstudie i telekombranschen.

Today small metal parts are mass-produced as for example rollers in cylinder bearings. At high velocity cutting the metal is cut with a great force in a scissor-like device. Both precision and repeatability is important to be able to guarantee good quality, but from an economical point of view it is also important to keep a great manufacturing capacity. The part of the process that is most time consuming is when the metal bar, that is about to be cut, is fed to the right position. Therefore it is interesting to examine if the time used for positioning can be reduced.

Cross infection is a global health problem. The cost for cross infection increases every year. Florence Nightingale focused her attention on preventing cross infections by using good hygiene and as a nurse that is one of your more important tasks. Nurses have guidelines for how hygiene should be implemented in practice. The aim of this study is to investigate factors that influence nurses´ compliance to guidelines regarding hygiene.

Studien undersöker relationer mellan stark ångestsymtom och personlighetsdrag samt bakgrundsfaktorer. 35 deltagare, 23 kvinnor och 12 män, rekryterades på en högskola och besvarade en enkät.Resultaten visar en stark relation mellan personlighetsdraget neuroticism och ångest men inga andra korrelationer med övriga faktorer. En djupare analys av resultaten tyder på att den population ur vilken deltagarna rekryterats inte varit lämplig för att undersöka de aktuella frågeställningarna, eftersom deltagarna uppvisat en mycket låg grad av ångest i testet och även en mycket hög grad av inre locus of control. Diskussionen har väckt frågor anknutna till instrumentens lämplighet och beskaffenhet, men också om olika relationer i personligheten kan tänkas gälla för grupper som ligger på hög respektive låg nivå av ångest. En slutsats av detta arbete är att frågan är viktig och intressant och att det finns tillräckligt med teoretiskt underlag för att återkomma med ett mer omfattande val av deltagare och lämpligare mätverktyg..

Ecolean Development AB are developing and manufacturing filling machines for pasteurized liquid food products. Because of lack of any appropriate supplier of box closer which seals boxes with small flaps, they have decided to start a project to develop a prototype of a box closer. Due to long experience from industrial automation I have been given a chance to develop control system for a box closer. Degree thesis involves electric design in ELPROCAD ic PRO and programming of PLC (programmable logic controller) and HMI (Human Machine Interface). The report describes degree project from the project plan phase via the development phase to the conclusions.

The Swedish debate regarding chat control highlights a value conflict between protecting the safety of children and preserving democratic rights such as privacy and freedom of expression. This thesis examines key arguments for and against the proposed EU CSAM-regulation, analyzing them through a normative argumentation analysis method. The analysis is based on the Swedish constitution, representing the common values of Swedish society. The study reconstructs arguments from four debate articles and evaluate them according to their relevance and validity, which makes up the arguments? total evidential strength.