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.

Municipalities in Sweden are responsible for physical planning by developing a general plan. This plan contains intended land and water use for the area. This study aims to investigate the level of integra­tion of environmental issues in the general plan of Arboga municipality and also how well adapted the municipality is for climate change. Further on, the study intends to examine the focus of the gen­eral plan and at what rate the national environmental strategies are implemented in the local physi­cal planning of Arboga municipality. Methods used for this study are interviews and reviewing of the general plan itself and other key documents.

The thesis of this work has been to investigate the information behaviour of archaeologists. Interviews were made, between March-September 2002, with ten archaeologists, employed in one Swedish organisation, conducting rescue archaeology. The archaeologists were all experienced in working positions as project leaders. Our thesis could be expressed in following questions: - Which sources of information did the archaeologists use in their work? - Which external and internal factors had influence on the information behaviour? The results of this study have been analysed within a theoretical framework of T.D Wilson, Lars Seldén, Lars Höglund and Olle Persson, among others.

We chose to study the groups for divorced children in Vellinge municipal because there was no evaluation made of these kinds of groups with the involved methods.Vellinge municipal has had groups for children to divorced parents since 2000. During this period of time the total numbers of children in these groups have expanded. As of now, there are two groups.Our goal with this study was to see which way the CAP, Children Are People, manual has been implemented in the every-day work in the group. Several studies have been made about CAP but not in the context of groups for divorced children. We have also examined results in other municipals that have implemented groups for divorced children into their social services.We have interviewed ten children and four social workers.

This study takes place within a publicly owned art producing organization and dwells on the problems of a change process that the organization was involved in. Both leaders and staff were disappointed by the way the change process had developed. The management team explained the outcome by referring to the uniqueness of working with artists who constantly put their own personal objectives before the benefit of the whole. The aim of this study is to find a complementary explanation to the one the management team provided us with; an explanation that can help in the understanding of the dynamics of a change process. Can perhaps theories on information, communication and change processes give an alternative explanation to why the change process faltered? To investigate this, we have used a qualitative single case study.

The accounting scandals that have attracted attention in recent years have led to internal control becoming a more central part of business activity. Doubts about what firms actually do have increased, all caused by the attention of accounting scandals. To counter this, frameworks and laws evolved and gained a significant role in the organization and its surroundings. The aim of the present study is to find out how four companies in the Kristianstad region are working to ensure its internal control and how they work to minimize risk and reduce uncertainty. We have used a qualitative method and interviewed a person in a senior position in each company.

Lean production is the name given to Toyota?s Production System (TPS) by the west. The continuous improvements of their operations through Lean has made Toyota into the largest car manufacturer in the world. This, in turn, has led to several studies regarding both Toyota and their system as to find ways to apply Lean in other organizations. Even so, over 90 percent of all companies fail to implement Lean.

En attraktiv stad är ett vitt begrepp. Vad som är attraktivt för någon behöver inte vara det för någon annan. Vissa faktorer bedömer jag dock att de flesta är överens om krävs för att vi ska trivas i staden. Det handlar om fysiska och sociala faktorer men också om rekreationsmöjligheter, historia, kulturutbud, skönhet med mera. I dettta arbete har jag studerat de fysiska faktorerna närmare och kommit fram till att skala, entréer, gruppering av hus och tydlighet i stadsrummet är viktiga ingredienser i områden där människor bor och arbetar. Dessa fysiska faktorer har jag sedan försökt att arbeta in i ett förslag till stadsförnyelse i industriområdet Sorgenfri i östra delen av centrala Malmö. För att få en bild av vad som gör staden attraktiv har jag bland annat studerat dess historia och dess parker och grönområden.

The aim of this study is to examine which communication channels and communication strategies Umea? municipality could use for information concerning outdoor recreation. To achieve this aim the following theories and views have been applied: social communication, communication strategies, two-way symmetrical communication, social media and uses and gratifications. The study was conducted through four focus group interviews and one informant interview. The focus groups consisted of four groups of outdoor enthusiasts in Umea? municipality: outdoor interested students, organized outdoor enthusiasts, active families and active seniors.

Naturens betydelse för människan är stor och den tätortsnära skogen utgör en viktig plats i den växande urbana befolkningens närhet. Ungefär två kilometer nordost om Falu centrum ligger Lugnets naturreservat, ett tätortsnära område som nyttjas av allt från motionärer och barnfamiljer till elitidrottare. Syftet med den här studien var att genomföra en syntesanalys över hur skötseln av Lugnets naturreservat kan utformas för att tillgodose så många intressen som möjligt. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med ett urval av områdets intressenter kartlades deras nyttjande och synpunkter. Tillsammans med befintlig teori inom området utformades generella och specifika skogsskötsel- och förvaltningsförslag för reservatet.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems of building a new region in the Southeast part of Sweden. The idea of a big south Swedish region is brand new; no former studies in this area have been done before. The main analytical focus of this study is legitimacy, identity and democratic credentials. The study has been carried out by interviews with several leaders in organizations working with the collaborations of the smaller regions in to the big region. The method of this study has been a single-case study and dialogue interviews.

I takt med den ökande globaliseringen blir det allt viktigare för organisationer att aktivt arbeta för att säkerställa sin kompetensförsörjning. Det råder en brist på färdiga chefer och organisationer behöver därför se över sin interna chefsförsörjning. Med anledning av detta har vi, med hjälp av semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer, genomfört en fallstudie av Skellefteå kommuns interna chefsaspirantprogram med fokus på deltagarnas upplevelser av programmet och hur programmet fungerat som strategiskt verktyg i syfte att skapa färdiga chefer. Studien utgår ifrån en hermeneutisk ansats och har en kvalitativ design i form av semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer. Resultaten visar att vilja är nyckeln för att medarbetare ska kunna axla rollen som chef.

The aim of the study was to investigate nurses? perception about patients? participation in medicine treatment and how to make the patient participate. A qualitative method was used and six nurses were interviewed. The nurses? perceptions of patients? participation in medicine treatment were characterized especially by patients having good knowledge about their medicines.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine and present the programmes and activities of school library centres in order to see what functions (purposes) they can fulfil in a municipality and also if and how they can contribute to school library development. In order to fulfil my purpose I have made qualitative interviews with five librarians from school library centres. The theoretical framework is primarily based on David Loertscher?s.

Fountain of Knowledge? The Changing Role of the Library at the Upper Secondary School Level. There have been many changes in the Swedish society in general, and in the school system and hence the school library in particular during the last decade. The aim of this master thesis is then to study what students at the upper secondary school level consider to be the optimal school library to meet their specific information needs at school. In addition to and in comparison with this, the aim is also to study the present conditions of the upper secondary school library as described in documents, reports and other studies in this field.