The purpose of this study was to examine the narrative skill of sixyear-olds in terms of macrostructure and cohesion, and its relation tonarrative content, auditory attention, auditory short-term memory and threemeasures of word retrieval. A group comparison of macrostructure andcohesion was also performed between children with and without epilepsy.The material consisted of audio recordings of 44 children (18 with epilepsyand 26 from a reference group) retelling the story Nelli-sagan (Holmberg &Sahlén, 2000). No correlation was found between content and macrostructureor cohesion, but several between the latter two. Auditory short-termmemory and word retrieval without pictures showed several correlationswith macrostructure as well as cohesion. No differences in macrostructure orcohesion were found between the children with epilepsy and the referencegroup.

During the last decade a new technique in animal breeding has developed called genomic selection. It is based on estimations of the effect from genetic markers on traits that are calculated in a reference population. By genotyping individuals, genomic breeding values can then be estimated without phenotypic observations. The aim of this essay is to investigate the response of genomic selection on breeding schemes for dairy cattle. The accuracy of the genomic breeding values is affected by the proportion of observations included in the validation set and how often the equation for estimating breeding values is reevaluated.

Inventories of epiphytic lichens on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were conducted at three sites in east central Sweden: along the newly build motorway (Road E4), along the old road (Road 600) and in a reference site, to compare the effects of traffic pollution on lichen diversities. At each site, species richness, lichen mean sensitivity value (MK), air quality index of the forest stand/sample plot (LKI) and nitrogen impact value (N) were calculated and it was tested if there was any difference between the sites. Twenty-four species were observed in total, and Parmeliopsis ambigua and Hypogymnia physodes were the most common species at all sites. At Road E4, fewer lichen species were observed than at the other sites and this might be due to the impact of air pollution. The species richness at Road 600 was similar to that of the reference site, which might be explained by the improved air quality.

My curiosity concerning what pupils read and write during leisure time led me to gather information using a quantative method. The study's aim is to investigate which reading and writing habits they have during their time outside school. A comparison was done of pupils at school year level 3 and level 4 in two different schools with the intention of investigating the influence of social background on reading and writing habits. 137 pupils filled in survey forms and thereafter the MYSTAT statistic program was used to process the information. The results point towards that the pupils read story books both more often and for a longer time than any other type of literature and that they read them often or very seldom.

The main aim of this master thesis was to see the process of an interactive online reference service from idea to final product. The reference service we have studied is developed and used by the Library of the National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden and goes by the name phibi. Our goal was to review the whole realization process from the reasons why a service like this was created, how the service was introduced and implemented inside the organisation and finally what the result and consequences were for both the library staff and for the users of the service. Phibi is designed to be a tool that fosters communication between the library staff and the remote users where the users get the opportunity to be helped with their questions by the library staff although they are not physically present in the library. To understand the process we conducted a case study with 11 interviews of the library staff, the superior and the initiator to phibi.

This thesis deals with an iterative user-centered IT-development project in a bank setting. The aim is to present a solution for deployment of future Internet banking for small businesses. The project features a design of IT-related concepts and ideas with a strong emphasis on scenario-based design and the usage of patterns as a documentation tool.The project plan featured an iterative framework and was carried out by a group of designers in collaboration with a reference group representing the future users of the system. This group consisted of company managers and bank employees, all from the small town of Åtvidaberg in Sweden.The method used in the development process was Scrum. A total of three sprints were completed with user meetings at the end of every sprint.

The main aim of this master thesis was to see the process of an interactive online reference service from idea to final product. The reference service we have studied is developed and used by the Library of the National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden and goes by the name phibi. Our goal was to review the whole realization process from the reasons why a service like this was created, how the service was introduced and implemented inside the organisation and finally what the result and consequences were for both the library staff and for the users of the service. Phibi is designed to be a tool that fosters communication between the library staff and the remote users where the users get the opportunity to be helped with their questions by the library staff although they are not physically present in the library. To understand the process we conducted a case study with 11 interviews of the library staff, the superior and the initiator to phibi.

I denna rapport behandlas frågeställningen: Hur kan man, med så få element som möjligt, skapa ett trovärdigt 3D-material; trovärdigt nog för att det ska kunna uppfattas som det verkliga material det försöker efterlikna? Som med mycket annat kan det vara en fördel att ha mer grundläggande förståelse för hur det man arbetar med och försöker efterlikna är uppbyggt. Syftet är att ta reda på om det finns några grundpelare i 3D- grafik som man bör ha i åtanke när man är ute efter att skapa ett visst sorts 3D- material utifrån verkligheten. Materialen som undersöks är trä, sten, metall, hud, hår/fjädrar och tyg. De presenteras i programmet Marmoset Toolbag och idén är att bryta ner dem till de minsta beståndsdelarna som behövs av ett material utan att förlora känslan av det materialet.

Föreliggande studie handlar om språkstimulans genom den fysiska miljön i form av miljöns utformning, tillgänglighet av material samt vilka val barnen gör i relation till dessa faktorer. I vår studie har vi använt oss av en kvalitativ forskningsansats där vi observerat två förskolor med barn mellan tre till fem år. Tidigare forskning beskriver vikten av materialets betydelse och utformning av rum för att barn ska ges förutsättningar till en god språkstimulans. I vårt resultat visades att rum och material har inflytande på barnens val vilket vi kunde se genom observationer. När en miljö erbjuder en variation av material fann barnen ett intresse kring leken och en kommunikation uppstod, medan en miljö som innehöll mindre material gjorde barnen rastlösa. .

Elever i den svenska grundskolan blir allt sämre på matematik enligt den senaste PISA undersökningen. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att besvara om användandet av laborativt material inom matematikundervisningen i grundskolan förbättrar elevernas matematikkunskaper och vad som påverkar användandet av laborativt material.Denna kvalitativa litteraturstudie är baserad på nio tidigare studier. Den visar att användning av laborativt material i undervisningen bidrar till att öka grundskolelevers matematikkunskaper. Flera faktorer påverkar resultatet och hur materialet används, lärarens uppfattning om laborativt material, kombinationen av tydliga instruktioner till eleverna och ett bra anpassat laborativt material för respektive matematikproblem samt lärarens egen kompetens att använda sig av materialet i undervisningen..

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the ideological development of the former communist parties and the contemporary left-wing socialist parties of the Nordic countries. It is aimed at the two decades that have passed since the collaps of the Berlin wall and the parties at hand are; the Norwegian Sosialistisk Venstre, the Danish Socialistisk Folkeparti, the Swedish Vänsterpartiet and the Finnish Vasemmistoliitto. Since the 1960´s these parties have undergone major ideological changes with reference to a widening of their political agenda to an inclusion of democratic ideals as well as the new ideologies of feminism and ecologism. Thus reforming them into modern left-wing socialist parties at different times. The main hypothesis is formulated from the idea that there must be a connection between the startingpoint of reformation and the degree of modernism/traditionalism they show today.

Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka fonologin hos svensktalande barn mellan 3 och 4 år. I studien medverkar 69 barn, varav 33 pojkar och 36 flickor. Bedömningen genomfördes med ett nytt fonologisk bedömningsmaterial, LINUS kortversion. Testerna utfördes i områden belägna i tre kommuner i sydöstra Sverige där socioekonomisk status låg nära riksgenomsnittet. Bedömningarna spelades in, transkriberades och analyserades av två bedömare.

To produce milk of good standard the feed for the animals kept for milk production is an important part in the work of quality. This makes it important to feed them with good forage, especially when feeding with silage. The process of making silage is very complex and requires a careful handling to be successful. The fundamental idea is to create an anaerobic environment in the herbage to favour the desirable micro-organisms, in this case the lactic acid bacteria. This environment is created by careful handlings were the importance is to pack the crop well and cover it as soon as possible to exclude oxygen.

Background: Folate is a water - soluble vitamin necessary for normal DNA synthesis among  other mechanisms. Folate deficiency can cause megaloblastic anemia resulting from abnormal erythrocyte d evelopment. At the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Linköping, analysis of folate is performed with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP which uses an immunochemical method with chemiluminimetric detection. Currently, the assay is conducted on serum, is poured off and frozen after 48 h and treated with light protection because folate is considered to be light sensitive.Methods: This study tested lithium heparin plasma for analysis of folate with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP with the aim to be able to perform a package of analyzes in anemia investigation from the same collection tube. Furthermore, the stability of folate was studied for up to 168 h and examined regarding light sensitivity.Results: Statistically significant higher values were obtained in the analysis of folate in lithium heparin plasma than folate in serum (p < 0,001).

This thesis for the Master of Science degree was performed at Solectron Corporation in Norrköping. The background for the thesis was a need to develop and build two test fixtures to automatize testing and adjusting of transmitter modules (TX-fixture) and receiver modules (RX-fixture) which are head devices in DWDM-systems. The basic elements for the test fixtures are: Test board, switch board and DC/DC board. The main function of the test board is to handle communication between the transmitter and receiver modules and supply voltage to these modules. The test board was insufficient and modified with a microprocessor to handle the communication between the PC and the receiver module.