We are working on the development and design of an approach to agents that can reason, react to the environment and are able to update their own knowledge as a result of new incoming information. In the resulting framework, rational, reactive agents can dynamically change their own knowledge bases as well as their own goals. An agent can make observations, learn new facts and new rules from the environment, and then update its knowledge accordingly. The knowledge base of an agent and its updating mechanism has been implemented in Logic Programming. The agent?s framework is implemented in Java.

The Swedish and Icelandic women's movements, the Support Stockings and the Women's Alliance both had the goal to change their nation's women politics. The goal was to increase the low representation of women in their parliaments and to highlight women issues on the political agenda. The essay shows that the most important reason behind the will to form a party, was a new issue being disregarded by existing parties, although there is a considerable interest concerning the issue amongst society. While a party was formed on Iceland the Swedish equivalence did not occur. Even though only one party was formed, both movements achieved the same results.

At the EU summit in Cologne in 1999, a consensus was reached concerning the common foreign and security policy within the European Union. It was decided at the summit that the WEU (Western European Union) should be incorporated into the EU - whom would then be given military capability to act autonomously without the necessity of Nato involvement. This essay investigates the factors that made this agreement possible from a Rational Choice perspective, but also from the perspective of the power and influence on negotiations on behalf of various types of leadership present at the meeting. Many nations at the summit of Cologne where for the creation of a military force in the form of ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) within the Union, and many where against such a decision. However a consensus was reached and that is what this essay shall try to explain.

Research has shown that our numbers of choices are constantly increasing. In this paper, we investigate the choice-making process further with regard to satisfaction, recommendation propensity, confidence, and preference. The study focuses on two fitness clubs where product information is provided sequential to the participant. We examine if consumers who maintain their choice tend to be more satisfied with their choice and more willing to recommend the choice to a friend. If they are, why is this? We found that the participants who changed their choice claimed to be less satisfied and had less propensity to recommend the choice to a friend.

The aim of this study is to try to explain the process using both an actor driven perspective as well as a structural perspective examining the reasons why the County Council of Värmland wants to merge with Region Västra Götaland. The answers to the following research questions are sought to shed light on the problem: What constrained the discretion of  the political actors in the choice of region to merge with? Which role did  different political actors play? Does the study provide Game Theory, from Rational Choice theory,  and Path Dependency, from Historic Institutionalism, a new perspective and strength especially  when bringing them together? The study is limited to two policy areas, health care and regional development policy. The structural background is drawn upon the Annual Report 2008 of the County Council Värmland, the Regional Development Program and Regional Transport Infrastructure Plan 2010-2021 by Region Värmland. The chronological order of decisions and events is drawn upon protocols from various regional political organs all linked to the municipal of Värmland and the correspondence between the officials of Värmland?s municipal and the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency of the State.

The aim of this thesis was to study elderly people?s experiences of and approach to their usage of home care services with tax deduction. The aim was also to describe how elderly people reason about their underlying motives of using home care service with tax deduction. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with people between the ages of 65 and 80, living in Nacka, Sweden. This thesis is a collaboration with Stiftelsen Stockholms la?ns A?ldrecentrum/ Stockholm Gerontology Center and part of their follow up study concerning simplified administration for elderly people applying for home care services in Nacka.

The purpose of this study was to find out why the law that regulates downloading copyrighted material does not work and which of the most important main reasons lies behind downloading behaviour. The phenomenon being well investigated earlier has actualized a new demand for normative investigation in connection with the hot debated IPRED-law.Using qualitative method comprising of interviews with three typical file sharers and anchored in Max Webers action typology, Rational Choice theory and the norm model followed by two assessment models, we found that four important reasons lies behind downloading behaviour: 1) economical reasons was the most central and frequent determinant followed by 2) accessibility and comfort, and 3) social acceptance and moral and also 4) habits. Although the content of the law was correctly provided by the interviewees, it was clear that they did not perceive the impact of the law as meaningful or threatening.The results, being compatible with previous research, are discussed in terms of the named theories and assessment models. We suggest further research to take into account peoples norms as the new IPRED-law soon will be functional as well as studies from a perspective of the legal rights of the individual..

Det humanitärrättsliga skyddet för civila i konflikter har sedan dess tillkomst främst reglerat internationella konflikter, något som inte förändrats i takt med att konfliktbilden skiftat från att ha dominerats av internationella konflikter till att istället präglas av mer svårdefinierade, interna sådana. Först 1993 togs ett avgörande steg mot en breddning av skyddet då säkerhetsrådet instiftade International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY. Tribunalen vilken inte var avsedd att fungera lagstiftande kom detta till trots att skapa prejudikat i form av domen mot Tadic´, ett prejudikat, vilket kom att få två viktiga konsekvenser. Det gav upphov till en ny definition av begreppet ?väpnad konflikt? och det ledde till att sedvanerätten tillskrevs större vikt.

The globalization today has led to increased global competition. As companies seek out foreign markets in order to internationalize their operations, it is common that they encounter many cultural problems. Bribery and corruption is a common problem in international trade. Corruption is strongly linked to the national culture which means that corruption is accepted in differing degrees within different nations. This can be a problem when companies establish their operations in foreign markets.The purpose of this essay is to examine and analyze how companies act in a corrupt market without participating in corrupt activities.The authors have performed both a qualitative and a quantitative study.

This work summarises some of the new choice theories and compares them with the neo-classical theories. It will deal with choice behaviour in situations with complex choice, such as may be encountered by board members or members of a co-operative company. The thesis discusses how choice may change if the rules of choice change. The hypothesis that people will vote differently depending on whether they choose a desired alternative or remove the undesired alternatives will be tested. .

När ett IT-företag ska utveckla ett system behöver de en systemutvecklingsmetod. Denna metod används för att de personer som arbetar i ett projekt ska ha en mall för hur de ska utföra sitt arbete. Vad som enligt litteratur verkar vara ett problem idag är att företagen har en metod men använder den inte på ett bra sätt eller inte alls. Detta leder till ostrukturerade projekt utan sammanhang. Om någon slutar i projektet är det svårt för någon ny att sätta sig in i det arbete som gjorts.

The aim of this paper is to describe which view the Chinese government in connection with the Olympics wants to display for the natural world and analyze if this view coincide with China?s foreign-policy goals. A qualitative content analysis is used. By using the theory of Rational Choice and a model with three different political approaches I want to examine whether or not the foreign-policy goals of the Chinese regime comport with the view that displays in two major newspapers in China. Since the runoff voting in Moscow in 2001 for the 2008 Olympics the Chinese government has been able to act rational and to compose different strategies to use the Games in Beijing for political propaganda.

Den politiska målsättningen är att den svenska rovdjursförvaltningen skall grunda sig på acceptans och förståelse för olika särintressen. Därför infördes 2010 viltförvaltningsdelegationer i varje län för att skapa regional och lokal förankring. Delegationen består av olika särintressen som ska besluta i frågor som rör riktlinjer för rovdjur och annat vilt. Den här uppsatsen har undersökt Norrbottens-, Västerbottens-, Jämtlands- och Dalarnas läns delegationsprotokoll vad gäller beslutsfattande angående björn och lodjur under tidsperioden 2011-2012. Det är jakt- och viltvårdsintresset, rennäringen och naturvårdsintressets beslutsfattande som har valts ut för granskning på grund av deras olika preferenser.

Rational Unified Process (RUP) är en systemutvecklingsmetod som tillhandahåller ett modifierbart tillvägagångssätt för hur man skall fördela uppgifter och ansvar inom ett systemutvecklingsprojekt. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka om RUP verkligen bidrar till framgångsrik systemutveckling, och i så fall även till att identifiera de vitalaste faktorer som lett till denna framgång. Fokus har legat på processkvalitet och genom en enkätundersökning, samt kvalitativa intervjuer med användare, har vi kunnat fastställa att metoden faktiskt bidrar till framgångsrik systemutveckling. De mest väsentliga bakomliggande framgångsfaktorerna som undersökningen har identifierat, är RUPs riktlinjer för produktion av dokumentation, konfigureringsmöjligheter av utvecklingsprocessen, stödet för projektledning, samt det iterativa tillvägagångssättet vid utveckling..

This thesis aims to examine the possibility of understanding social change by using new institutionalism approaches on a specific case, The case, which describes the implementation of new public management reform in the Swedish health care system, is analysed from two separate new institutionalismperspectives; the tool perspective and the symbol perspective. These approaches differ from one another in the sense that the first relies on a Rational Choice ontology, while the latter rather refers to a sociological tradition. In the analysis, causal explanations as well as aim related explanations are presented. Formative moments such as economic stagnation, non-socialist governments and ideological isomorfism are presented as important factors behind the reformation. By using the tool perspective, the motives of the idea spreading and reformation of the Swedish health care system, are connected to a strictly rationalbasis such as cost efficiency and quality improvements.