Problem statement: Nowadays, women have a greater place in literature, both as a writer but also the role of the book and that is why I have chosen to examine how educators reason about their use of literature in preschool to combat the stereotype of gender roles.Motivation: An earlier survey shows that women now have a greater place in the recently released children's literature and, therefore, it is interesting to see how educators see their work on countering gender patterns using picture books. It is also interesting to examine whether the female roles in the books are consistent with the research I've used.Approach: I chose to use qualitative interviews with teachers in two preschools and also examined the recently released children?s books they worked with.Results: The results of my survey shows that teachers thoughts about their work on combating gender pattern occurs on an individual plan and depend on how the teacher interprets the guidelines. My survey also shows that the gender roles in the newly released picture books are consistent with earlier research I?ve used.Conclusion: It is therefore important that educators are aware of how easily gender patterns are induced, it happens on a daily basis through words and expectations that educators have on children..

Within the interconnected global markets of today; people, products, and information travel at a pace never met before. In light of the global retail markets recent integration, consumers are opened up to new products and are beginning to develop a vetted interest in the heritage of those products. Within literature this process has been coined "Country of Origin" COO, and its impacts on consumer attitudes, product value- assessment, and overall behaviors has been one of the most emphasized areas of "international business" studies, during the last three decades. Numerous studies have shown a correlation between positive or advantageous associations to a country of origin, and the actual products representing and coming out of that country. It is by this synergetic process that so-called positive COO-effects are brought forth.The goal of this thesis stems directly from the still unexplored potential for Swedish firms to differentiate their products and brands on new international markets, through a strategic and coherent communication of relevant Swedish COO-effects.

The maintenance phase within software projects is typically very expensive in terms of resources. The activities of this phase are largely focused around some form of modification of program code. This leads one to consider if there are alternative methods of code production that results in code that allows for less costly modifications. This thesis has its basis in a subset of those concepts which research has shown to provide more flexible code. Once this subset is established, connections are made between the concepts within the subset and claims of benefits provided by the use of Test Driven Development (TDD) methodology.

ABSTRACTSeminar date: 2008-06-04Subject: Bachelor thesis in Business AdministrationAuthors: Charlotta Lind Therese LundinBorn: 1982 Born: 1982Västerås VästeråsTutor: Ulla PetterssonTitle: Company valuation- A study in which valuation methods that areused in determining the value of producing companies and servicecompanies.Problem: According to the theory there are a number of different valuation methods which can be used to determine the value of producing companies and service companies. The thesis research problem is:- Which valuation methods does a valuator use in practice todetermine the value of producing companies and servicecompanies?- Does the valuator take different types of information andkey ratios in consideration when valuating producingcompanies and service companies?Purpose: The purpose is to examine and describe which valuation methods a valuator uses to valuate producing companies and servicecompanies in an acquisition.Method: In order to achieve the purpose of the thesis a Quantitative survey and three qualitative interviews, made by email, has been carried out.Conclusion: The conclusion of the thesis is that discounted cash flow and relative valuation are used to determine the value of producingcompanies and service companies. The valuators choice ofvaluation method is not generally affected by the nature of thecompany?s operations.Keywords: Company valuation, valuation methods, producing companies,service companies, relative valuation, discounted cash flow.

The aim of this paper is to clarify the importance of communication between parents and educators, as well as collaboration. The survey involves cooperation between parents and teachers in preschool and in the survey; it is the educators? role and approach that is made visible. The issues I answer with the help of the interviewed teachers in the paper are: In what ways considers the interviewed teachers that can create dialogues with parents about children's daily life and activities? How do you describe the interviewed teachers that they interact with parents in preschool and the various forms of collaboration describe the interviewed teachers that they use in preschool?What difficulties consider the interviewed teachers may apply when creating dialogues and cooperation with parents in preschool Using a qualitative research method, the questions have been answered in the paper..

This Masters thesis is performed at the request of the National Board of Forestry in order to investigate how the Swedish municipalities use their forests. The study is of general character with emphasis on the social values of the forests. The municipalities? purposes with their forests have varied over time, but lately the social aspects have been recognised as interesting. The social values of the forests can be defined as the values from the forests that contribute to the wealth of humans. This has socio-economic importance for the municipalities. The study was performed as a quantitative questionnaire survey, complemented with qualitative interviews.

The purpose of this essay is to examine what literary heritage teachers communicate in the school subject Swedish at upper secondary school. The overall research question for this work is: Which authors and/or works are mentioned by the teachers in the school subject Swedish at upper secondary school? How well do these authors and/or works answer towards a multicultural perspective? Which factors affect teachers´ selections of texts? Based on this purpose and these research questions, the aim is to answer the didactic question of what.To accomplish the purpose of the study a quantitative method has been used. The survey was conducted in two medium-sized cities in central Sweden, and was answered by 17 teachers. The study shows that the teachers ascribe the Western and Swedish literature great importance.

The aim of this study was to identify and make transitions in Swedish preschool-class-9-years elementary schools visible with a special-needs educational perspective. Transitions in focus were those between preschool-class and primary school, between grade three and four and the last between grade six and seven.In the 1960?th Swedish elementary school were devided into three levels; primary school, intermediate level school and upper level lower secondary school. Those levels were officially removed when the curriculum of 1994 was introduced. However, in some way such levels still exist, for example in organisation and structure of schools, the curriculum and teacher education.How did school leaders design transitions between levels and which tools were used? What kind of information was transferred to help children with special needs and what was the role of the special pedagogue in the transition process?The study was a combination of a quantitative and qualitative method, a questionnaire survey complemented with qualitative interviews with special pedagogues in three schools in a middle-sized Swedish town.The result of the study shows that schools in focus had a work plan.

Purpose/Aim: The aim of this study is to (1) analyze the amount of exposure disability sports get in Swedens biggest newspaper (Aftonbladet), (2) look at how Aftonbladet portraits disability sports and it?s athletes, and finally (3)  to see if there has occurred any change over time (during the last eight years). Material/Method: The first method used is a quantitative analysis to measure exposure.The second method is a quantitative content analysis which is used to analyze how disability sports are portrait.The third method is rhetorical and is also used to analyze how disability sports are portrayed. Main results: The study has shown that disability sports get very little exposure in Aftonbladet. The articles in the newspaper that cover disability sports are portrayed from a personal point of view without much focus on the athletes achievements regarding his or her sport.

This study aims to explain how teachers for students aged 11-13 years old work with comprehension of words, based on reading fictional texts. The question formulations the study aims to survey is how teachers declare they are working with word-comprehension with basis in fictional texts for bothfirst- and second language learners, and how this shows in their pedagogical practice. The study also aims to survey what the effects are on the students´ learning, according to the teachers, by using this teaching-methods. In an attempt to examine this, interviews have been performed with three teachers working at different schools, teaching Swedish for students in the elementary school. In the interviews the teachers was asked questions in aim to research their methods of teaching wordcomprehension, followed up by two lesson-observations per class of each teachers´ pedagogical practice..

Swedish students' knowledge of mathematics has deteriorated in recent years. Teaching of mathematics is therefore starting point in an ongoing discussion among researchers, school leaders, politicians, teachers and others, who all thinks they know best about how teaching should be designed to the greatest extent possible to raise students' proficiency levels in the subject. Teachers' practices have long been the focus of discussions and views on these differ. The purpose of this paper is therefore to study students 'conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching, with teachers' methods and tools of focus, in relation to previous research on the subject. The method used was a survey of students in secondary school and a textual analysis of previous studies on the subject.As revealed by the survey was that the textbook has a big advantage in mathematics education in Sweden today.Many students are not accustomed to working in a different way and thereforedoes not know either what the alternative approach entails.

We have chosen to focus this paper on the importance of game-components in the MMORPG-game World of Warcraft, in order to discover which of them who are the most important and create the biggest motivation to play the game for the players of World of Warcraft. We made this  investigation because we wanted to find out more about the specific reasons about what people think is especially great with World of Warcraft and makes them want to play it for hour after hour. By doing this we wanted to find out what it is that is so appreciated with this game. But this is a big area and it has therefore been difficult to find a way to satisfy and make those who have answered on our survey to feel that the game-component they enjoy most has been a part of our questions.To solve this problem we did a survey that included 200 persons and two interviews. When both the survey and the interviews had been completed, the result was being compared against each other and together to see if there was any difference between them or if they had any similarity to the attraction and motivation.

Hur studenter klarar sina introduktionskurser i fysik på universitetet beror till stor del på deras attityder till fysik och fysikundervisning. Studenternas attityd påverkar hur dem arbetar med föreläsningar, lektioner, laborationer och kurslitteratur, och avgör hur studenterna gör för att tolka, resonera och bygga förståelse kring kursinnehållet. Det finns utförliga studier gjorda om vilka attityder som är fördelaktiga för fysikstudier på universitetsnivå. Men det finns väldigt lite forskning som visar om det är elever med fördelaktiga attityder som söker sig till fysikutbildningar. I detta arbete undersöks och karaktäriseras ett samband mellan elevers fysikattityder och deras val av framtida studier..

The study focuses on mapping how well prepared the counties in the west region of Sweden is in case of restructuring. The study explores what kind of activities and routines that contributes to prepare the organization for restructuring. The study also aims to investigate the effect of precedent restructuring, and if the counties who experienced restructuring are more prepared than others.The research within the field of restructuring characterizes of an evaluating nature and the focus has been after the restructuring occurred. There have also been a lot of studies of the negative consequences on individual and organizational level. Since downsizing is a frequently used method by management despite its consequences is it important to investigate how organizations can learn and thereby be more prepared for restructuring.

The purpose of this study was to identify the positive and negative aspects of the work and dynamics of a management team and from that recommend how the team can improve. The aim was also to investigate whether there was a gap between how the members of the management team comprehend themselves and how the project, section and team managers comprehend the management team. The management team contains of seven core team members and is the head function of a research and development site in central Sweden. The results are based on interviews with the present members of the management team and three former members, a survey among the project, section and team managers and by participating observation on meetings with the team. The results show that the management team is an overall well-functioning team that with some changes and improvements, especially concerning communication and information, can reach even further.