The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

This essay is about the question if there is any difference in quality at the homes for the elderly in Skåne, depending on however the home is run by a public organization or private counterpart. The quality of the homes is meet with the help of numbers in ?the guide for the elderly? the facts in the guide are collected and judged by the ?Swedish National Board of Health. The result from the guide is divided into seven areas of quality, and then compared in a statistic test between the different types of organizations. And finally the result of the statistics is put in the context of the theory of New Public Management.

This essay shows how the concept of virtue can deepen our understanding considering processes of empowerment. A virtue is understood as a trait of character, manifested in habitual action, that it is good for person a to have. Virtues are interpreted as socially constructed. Empowerment is presented as a process toward self-confidence and self-determination where recourses and freedom propels the development toward power for the individual, the household and the community. Why does the concept of virtue deepen our understanding? It is argued that our theoretical perceptive of empowerment needs to better encompass values, norms and practise.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the factors that drive efficiency and effectiveness in technical development projects performed at A?F?s department of product development. In addition to identifying and analyzing these factors, the thesis also analyzes what needs to be taken in to account in order to implement a measurement system that is able to both monitor and control the identified factors.The thesis has been performed in a qualitative manner. It is based on interviews with people from several different technological companies, within different lines of business, all of which are customers to A?F?s department of product development.The results show that there are seven critical factors for project efficiency and effectiveness.

In musikklasser (a special musical training which focus on choral singing is offered in the Swedish compulsory school from the age of ten until the age of sixteen) teachers are working in a tradition where conventions relating to singing with children have developed in accordance with the Swedish choral tradition. In these classes, students are trained in large groups, usually around 30 students in one class. Furthermore, one teacher and 60 students is also frequent in schools with two or more parallell grades. In a large choir group, students develop their skill in choral singing, which includes the development of general musical knowledge as well as the development of the individual singing voice of each student in order for the choir to be able to interpret and perform music with a communal musical expression. Thus, the complexity in this teaching and learning setting places high demands on the choir teachers? ability to use appropriate teaching and learning strategies in order to develop the specific musical skill required in a choir.In this study, two choral teachers´ interaction with their choir class were investigated.

The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers.The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky?s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh?s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council.The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to do a comparativecase study between a public library in Sweden and one in England. Our aim is to examine what factors affect alibrarian in charge of purchasing fiction for adults and to what degree. We have used two methods of study, specifically semi-constructed interviews with two librarians and text analysis of policies in place at each library respectively. Our research questions share the above mentioned context and should therefore be read with that backdrop:-How is selection and purchase covered in the policies?-What selection criteria are used by the respondents?-What differences are there regarding the decision making? -How can the viewpoints be explained?Our analytical framework was based on three arguments namely market demand, quality and social inclusion when examining our material.

The difficullty to distinguish between sheep and goats is a well-known problem in archaeology and osteology. Distinguishing sheep and goats in archaeological animal remains takes time and time is often limited for osteologists. Because of this difficulty osteologists and archaeozoologists often use the term sheep/goat or ?ovicaprids? in their analytical reports. But even if the term sheep/goat comprise both species, this is often not the case when archaeologists and osteologists interpret and present archaeological findings.

GPS (Global Positioning system) and GIS (Geographical information system) has been used for planning and inventory in the forest sector for more than ten years. The last years the development has come to equip harvesters and forwarders with GPS and GIS (GIT). The goal with this study was to reach a basis for decision, how Stora Enso Skog should continue its investment in GPS and GIS in harvesters and forwarders. To reach this basis for decision, possible advantages and benefits, disadvantages and problems in the harvesting process was evaluated. The study was made as an interview study with four harvesting managers and ten machine teams. To secure the quality of the results an interview questionnaire was made before the interviews were done. The results showed that GIT will make the harvesting managers work easier.

This study is about language learning and language development. The purpose of the survey is to investigate how current learning theory and language research reflect on teaching instructions for the teaching material in spanish, with focus on the student´s awareness and reflection.The survey is based on a comparative textanalysis of four teaching instructions for the seventh year in the nineyear compulsory school.The result show great variations between the teaching instructions, regarding execercises as well as instructions. A theoretical approach and an explicit connection to research is something that is constantly missing in the instructions to the teachers..

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to compare and analyze Malmö Aviation and Rica Talk Hotel's service culture. This is done by examining three themes, the organizations ways of working with training, motivation and empowerment of frontline employees.Method: The essay is a case study-based qualitative research which mainly focuses on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with various people within the two organizations.Theory: The theoretical framework considers theory within two sections. The first section, the organizations importance in service quality, focuses on service culture or service climate and different management strategies. Section two, the employees? importance in service quality, focuses on three themes: training, motivation and empowerment of frontline employeesResults: Both Malmö Aviation and Rica Talk Hotel are companies that put great emphasis on developing and maintaining a quality service culture within the organization.

Open source software has recently been discussed, not least in media as a revolution in IT. A number of advantages have been listed in changing proprietary software into open source software. Examples of such pros are no expenses for license fees and improved efficiency. In spite of this, few users have made this change. One of the reasons is a distrust of the quality in open source software.

Eco-design is all about improving products environmental performances throughout the products lifecycle by including the environmental aspect into the product development process. There are a large number of different tools that can be used for this, but there are several factors that can affect which one will be the best to use. Some tools for eco-design takes comprehensive studies and can only be performed by experts, while some tools can be used more time- and cost efficient and with basic knowledge. The choice of tool should be based on the company?s situation.This report describes the research of how the design and furniture company Blå Station could include a tool for eco-design in their product development process.

Our modern society is in many ways built with and dependent on fossil fuels, which are used for energy production as well as for transporting humans and goods. Without the oil, many of the things we take for granted would not be possible. During the last century, the use of oil has increased steadily and will probably keep increasing as the world population and the economic well-being for many people increase. Since the oil is a finite resource, we will have to find other fuels that can replace it if we want to keep the same rate of development in the future as the availability of petrol fuels will decrease with rising prices as a result. Furthermore, fossil fuels have the disadvantage that they produce harmful emissions when combusted and thus affect the climate and air quality locally and globally.

Phosphate is a used as a surface treatment method which is used for various purposes in the industry. In this case, phosphate coated wire is used in the processes to achieve a desirable outcome. The reason to why phosphate coated wire is used in the production process is because phosphate acts as an accumulator, where it stabilizes the lubricant on the surface of the wire. Lubrication is important because it plays a major role in the roll quality and characterizes important benefits regarding the outcome.Currently, SKF has to wash away all phosphates residues after extrusion process in an operation called tumbling. The main reason for this is simply because the surface has to be completely free from lubricants and coatings till the next step of process.