This thesis examines the tendering process from the point of view of Swedish building contractors. The purpose with the study is to chart the decision process for the contractors during the tendering process. The study is designed as a survey study. This made it possible to REACH a wide base of respondents, not letting such factors as geography being an issue. The survey itself was characterised by a very high response rate compared to other similar studies. The result from this study shows that former experience from similar projects, current workload and the clients economic condition are very important factors for both whether or not the contractor will bid for a project as well as the cost estimation and tendering price. Former experience from similar projects is also an important factor for the determination of the indirect costs.

An increasing number of students leave the Swedish compulsory school without having a satisfactory grade in mathematics. Causes why students risk ending up with difficulties in the subject of mathematics are debated but one explanation might be that more and more students are diagnosed with dyscalculia. The purpose of this study is to investigate how educationalists identify and organize their teaching in order to help students with difficulties in mathematics to REACH the schools requirement and long-term goals that are defined in advance. It is vital to detect learning difficulties at an early stage. Accordingly, it can be avoided that the student starts to develop a negative self-image due to repeated failures and in the same time provide relevant help.

The rise of social media has created an endless source of possibilities for companies to interact and connect with their target audiences. As it is a new channel, companies may experience uncertainty on how to use it to its fullest potential.The purpose of this study is to describe how the Public Service radio channel, P4 Kalmar, use its Facebook page and how its members perceive the communication on this platform. We have also presented recommendations on how P4 Kalmar can improve the relationship with its members. To REACH our conclusions we have combined theoretical references with a quantitative content analyze, a survey and qualitative depth interviews.By analyzing our findings we came to the conclusion that P4 Kalmar have to develop a strategy for communicating on social media. But since no general communication strategy for the organization exists they have to develop one before developing one for social media.

African elephants (Loxodonta Africana) are kept all over the world in different kinds of enclosures. The enclosures are however often unsuitable for the elephants. Research has shown that elephants are nocturnal animals. Therefore it is important to keep elephants occupied, for instance by using enrichments, also at the night. Five elephants were studied at Borås djurpark, four elephants in one room and one elephant, named Nyoka, in one room.

The aim of this study was to describe and understand how individuals in adulthood experienced a childhood with neglect, and how they handled neglect. In order to REACH the perspective of the individuals who grew up with neglect, we chose to use autobiographical books as our empirical material. The criteria the autobiographies had to meet in order to fall within the scope of this study was that the biographies had to display the experience of neglect during childhood, and thereto the books had to be written by individuals who themselves experienced neglect. Based on the aim of this study we sought answers to three questions: How do the individuals describe their upbringing with a mentally or socially disabled parent? How have the individuals coped with the neglect they?ve been exposed to? What consequences have the neglect supposedly led to? The findings of this study show that the extent to which the individuals experienced neglect were profound and comprising.

Title: Notification of animal welfareAuthor: Helen ÖhlundThe purpose of this study was to examine the routines of the county administrations in Sweden when it comes to receiving notification from the public about the welfare of animals. According to Jordbruksverket at least 50 % of the screening of animal welfare should be based on routine controls on existing farmers. Today the routine controls only REACH a 43 % average for the whole country. A big part of today?s result depends on the amount of time it takes the administrators of animal welfare to process the notifications from the public.

This paper is about the new methods and metrics used in industry and business today striving for better revenues and larger market shares. It investigates the relations between the old fordistic and tayloristic way of manufacturing and compares it to the models used in industry today for being competitive, seeking to please customers and becoming more flexible. More specific the paper is about if Six Sigma and lean production are the key for succeeding these days. SKF:s factory in Gothenburg and other companies will make an example for how these methods are used in practice.The aim is to try to answer if these systems with inherited tools and methods are the right way to get the flexibility that is needed for being able to deliver the right goods to customers and market. For a company to be flexible decisions must be made fast and needed changes must be able to be done easy and without too large costs and investments.

In the year 2010 a transition will take place here in Sweden from the present rules how to dimension buildings in to the common rules with have been developed in Europe, the Eurocodes. Eurocode is the term for a collection standard that contains calculation rules in how to dimension constructions and buildings. They are developed by the European standardize committee.The purpose with this examination work is to get an insight of what changes this will contribute to, and how it will affect the dimensioning. Are there going to be any differences in the dimension you finally chose?To investigate these possible differences two constructions will be calculated first in the present Swedish rules, and then in the coming eurocodes.One of these two constructions will be build completely in steel, while the other will be build completely in concrete.

Projects to equip every student and teacher with a laptop, with the intention to improve academic results, have rapidly spread through the country. New technology, new contents and new ways of learning have changed the learning envi-ronment. The school library, being a part of this environ-ment, faces the same changes and challenges.The purpose of this thesis is to study how the school library is being affected when a One-to-One project is carried out in a learning environment. The research questions concern how the school library is viewed within the organization and also how the change affects both the school library and the school librarian.The empirical material of the thesis includes five qualitative interviews carried out on location, at a single selected school. The interviews are followed by a study of relevant documents, all produced within the organization.To understand the organization in which the school library operates, as well as the school library itself, I chose to divide the theoretical approach in two: Christensen?s et al.

Since energy simulations are used to verify that projected residential buildings will REACH the current energy requirements it is important that the results are reliable.This report investigates the extent of uncertainty in energy simulations, estimates the causes of the uncertainty and its economic and environmental consequences.The method used in this report is based on three validation methods; empirical validation, analytical validation and comparative validation. The analysis was carried out for five multi-family dwellings in Uppsala with installed meters for energy measurements. One of these objects, Klockarlunden, was studied in more detail than the others.The results show that the deviations are between 10 and 29% for the studied objects, which means that the uncertainty is estimated to be at least 29%. All simulations underestimate the buildings need of energy. The simulation for Klockarlunden can predict the energy consumption to be within the range of 46-98 kWh/m2year with 90% confidence level based on the current uncertainty.

The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how venture capitalists can use their network in order to reduce information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, consisting of open questions, have been used to receive gradate information in order to REACH our explorative purpose. Our theoretical framework consists of relevant studies made on the dynamics of networks and the problems that can arise in the complex relationship between a principal and an agent. We have been interviewing two venture capital firms and therepresentatives from two business angel networks. We also made an additional interview with an influential financial actor in order to try to verify our conclusions Our conclusions are that an extensive network can be used by venture capitalists in order to; verify ventures? technologies, complement the competences in the venture management team, and arrange co-investments, resulting in reduced information asymmetries between themselves and the venture management team.

Today equal representation between the genders in parliament is something to be desired. One way to REACH the goal of equal representation is by using quotas. The purpose of the study is to research the lack of equality in elected institutions by using a perspective on qoutas.  The study also seeks to find answers to if using quotas is a good method according to gender studies. A text analysis is being used to find reasonable solutions to the study´s presented complivations.  By analyzing different texts about quotas some of the more common arguments in the discussion about using quotas in parliaments were highlighted. Some of the more frequent arguments to implement quotas are that it would be more just but also that women and men may have different interests, experiences and therefore equal representation would be a question of resources.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine virtual reading groups, and which meaning the users perceive that the virtual reading groups offer. In addition, the study inquires which details can be improved to further amend the needs and wants among the users of virtual reading groups. Through these outlines, it is discussed how libraries and librarians can make use of virtual reading groups as a resource. The study is based upon qualitative interviews, consisting of asynchronous e-mail interviews with a total of sixteen members in two different virtual reading groups.

The product "urinal funnel" for women has fascinated me for a long time. Not only because it solves a practical problem in a simple way, but also because it challenges our definitions of gender and behaviour. This report describes the process of making a new design for a funnel, taking material, ergonomics and construction in consideration. It also includes structuring a launching of the product in Sweden. It starts up with a large amount of information gathering, both by interviewing testgroup-perticipants, but also by researching and evaluating the range of existing funnels.

The aim of this study is to examine marriage as something both desirable and normal in three popular novels from the 1860s about marriage: Rosa Carlén?s Agnes Tell: en äktenskapshistoria (1860), Marie Sophie Schwartz?s Alma eller De moderna äktenskapen (1860) and Sara Pfeiffer?s Aurora Trampe (1867). Using a theoretical perspective from Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, I have analysed the novels as being producers of, and resistance against, norms.The good marriage is partly depicted as a utopian vision in the novels, which therefore functions as fantasies for the readers. But it is also depicted as a realistic possibility. Though difficult to achieve, the main characters REACH the goal through individual improvement towards correct behaviour.The question for the main characters is not whether they are going to marry or not, but how to make their marriages good ones.