Science Fiction har sedan sin uppkomst gestaltat samhället och de samhällsfrågor som för sin tid är aktuella. Alltifrån ifall människans existens är kroppslig eller andlig, till vad som händer när livsformer från andra planeter kommer till Jorden, har diskuteras i Science Fiction. I tv-serien Battlestar Galactica gestaltas och problematiseras vår samtid. Genom att flytta mänskligheten från Jorden och ut i rymden, där de konfronteras med en mängd etiska och moraliska frågor ? tvingade att se över vad de själva är och vad de håller på att bli.

The following essay or thesis is a study over scientific endeavors in the fringe. It is a study of Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, whose proponents aim to make the UFO phenomenon (or phenomena) a subject of scientific scrutiny. To achieve this, the ufologists first have to redefine common concepts of ufology as pseudo science or religion, mainly by challenging definitions given by scientific sceptics on the one hand, and proponents of conspiracy theories or the new age environment on the other. Thus UFO-Sverige seeks to construct an alternative scientific identity in contrast to adversaries on both sides, each unwilling to give the UFO phenomenon any further examination. Following the work of Tomas Gieryn's sociological grip on questions of epistemology, especially concerning the social boundaries of science from other cultural categories through what has been labelled as epistemic boundary work, during which proponents of a particular field aim to achieve epistemic authority and thus the legitimate right to define what is and what is not science, I seek to analyze how questions of science and legitimacy are actualized in an intellectual environment or culture not broadly accepted as scientific.

What role should science play in democracy? Political scientists often assume that it is possible to demarcate between ?instrumental? and ?moral? knowledge, and argue that citizens and/or politicians should use their moral knowledge to agree upon political goals and then apply the instrumental knowledge of scientists to achieve them. This straightforward view is challenged by writers in science studies, who identify three major problems in the use of science in democracy: uncertainty, risk and hidden values. They suggest that these problems could be solved through citizen participation.In this essay I perform an analysis of the internal logic of their suggestion. Is it likely that citizen participation enhances the democratic decision making process so as to reduce the problems? The internal analysis shows that it is rational to advocate citizen participation by reasons of legitimacy.

The purpose with this study is to map the research front and the research base in information science, by using the bibliometric methods bibliographic coupling and author-co citation analysis. The research questions are: 1. What is the nature of the research front in information science, regarding which areas that are being studied? 2. What is the nature of the research base in information science, regarding which authors who are most cited, and how they can be grouped? The data used in the study were gathered from articles published in the journal Journal of the American society for information science and technology, published between 2004-2006, respectively 1986-2006.

In order to be able to change, to maintain competitiveness as a company in a world where rapid changes is part of the daily life, it is crucial to have knowledge and methods in how to change. One method, originally developed in Finland, is the Change Laboratory. This method is said to be efficient, not only concerning change aspects but also learning, since change and learning in this method is intertwined. This Master Thesis (20p.) tells about the process of conducting a Change Laboratory with a Swedish high-tech company and analyses factors in the process that makes change possible..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the public libraries work towards SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) based on the views of the overseeing librarians. To study this we have asked the following research questions:What distinguishes the public libraries? work towards SFI according to the responsible librarians? What distinguishes the communication between SFI teachers and the librarians according to the responsible librarians? What opinions are held by the librarians in regards to their work with SFI?We have used a semi structured interview method with seven librarians in charge of the activities with SFI at small and medium sized public libraries in a rural area of Sweden. The theoretical framework is composed of Marianne Andersson and Dorte Skot-Hansen?s model for analysis of the local public library profile and the authors? definition of collaboration.

This essay has been made on behalf of the co-operative society Mäster Grön, which is selling ornamental plants to retailers in Sweden. The aim of this study has been to find out what added value Mäster Grön gets from their co-branding with the Swedish Seal of quality. The main topic of discussion was; how much value added does this co-branding give to Mäster Gröns pot plants? Are there differences from a customer point of view in value added between a garden center and a retail store? How much weight does the costumer put on the branding when buying a plant? Does the customer know what the values of Mäster Grön and Swedish Seal of quality mean? Two questions of lesser worth were asked to the consumers about what they thought about the protective plastic around the plant, and if they were interested in getting more information about the origin as well as the method of production of the plant. The study was divided into two parts, one in which customers were observed and one where the customers answered a survey.

I examensarbetet har läroboksserier inom fysik för gymnasienivån studerats med avseende på Nature of Science. Begreppet Nature of Science, NOS, handlar om naturvetenskapens epistemologi och de sammanhang som påverkar skapandet av ny kunskap inom naturvetenskap. Aspekter från andra vetenskapsområden som, historia, filosofi, ekonomi, och sociologi lyfts fram som viktiga i kunskapsutvecklingen av naturvetenskap. Som grund för studien har ett avgränsat avsnitt, som i examensarbetet benämnts vad är ljus, undersökts. Inom detta område har det studerats om och hur NOS används i läroböckerna.

Roseroot (R. rosea L.) has gained more attention the last years, mainly because of its phy-topharmacologic properties. Even though many reports in roseroot have been published, only a few articles are dealt with the genetic diversity. The Nordic Genetic Resource Center has collected Roseroot material from Sweden, Greenland and Faroe Islands under different expeditions. The samples were analysed to study the genetic diversity study.

Climate change and the sea level rise that it contributes to is an ever more pressing issue for costal municipalities around the world. Today there is a great deal of scientific reports and projections on what these changes could entail. However, resent studies on south Swedish costal municipalities have shown great discrepancies when it comes to how these scientific projections are implemented in the municipal planning and adaptation strategies. In an effort to understand the underlying reasons for this lack of concurrence, this paper has applied Rolf Lidskogs theory of the hetrogenity of science. The theory gives an explanation to the complications in the science-policy interface, by describing complicating factors in the communication between these actors.

This master thesis has been written in collaboration with Science Park Jönköping and is based on a problem related to corporate innovation. Science Park Jönköping believes that there is an untapped potential in existing industry in the form of ideas that are never commercialized. These theories are also supported in the research in which other authors have perceived that the ideas and inventions which do not belong to the core business risk ending up in drawers. If more of these ideas could be spin-offs or other forms of enterprise instead of staying in the drawers it would lead to growth, both for companies and for the society in large.The purpose of the thesis work is to, based on the case Science Park Jönköping, analyze how science parks and incubators can support the commercialization of ideas that derive from industry, who otherwise had been left lying. The work began with a mapping of the Science Park Jönköping operations and the skills they possess, and then other initiatives that aim to commercialize more ideas from companies were examined.

The objective of the study is to map the cognitive structure of Library and Information Science, using a quantitative, bibliometric method. This empirical study shows how co-citation analysis combined with word-frequency analysis can be used to describe the subject content of the field. The research questions to be answered are: -Which clusters of authors can be identified? -How can these clusters be described in respect of their subject content, if the descriptors associated with the authors in the clusters are counted? The results show that the cognitive structure of Library and Information Science can be described by 13 clusters of authors, where each cluster is representing a specific aspect of the subject- domain. For the description of the subject content of the clusters, descriptors DE of the LISA database have been used..

Essay in political science, D-level, by Samanta Pudic´, spring semester 2009. Tutor: AlfSundin. ?Implementation of a job guarantee for young people. - A study on the struggleagainst unemployment at the municipal level?The purpose of this dissertation is to examine if municipalities could affect theimplementation of labour market policy measures to reduce unemployment among youngpeople.

Den här uppsatsen behandlar kompetensutvecklingen på träningsföretaget SATS. Syftet är att undersöka synen på kompetensutvecklingen hos SATS ledning och de anställda, vilket innefattar hur företaget arbetar med att utveckla kompetensen hos sina anställda och vilka möjligheter samt eventuella hinder personalen upplever för kompetensutvecklingen. Andra intressanta aspekter som undersöks är vilka kompetenser som är viktiga inom SATS, hur synen på kompetensutveckling konstrueras i relation till företagskulturen och ledarskapet samt varför svaren i SATS medarbetarundersökning från 2009 skiljer sig åt gällande kompetensutveckling mellan två center i Stockholm. Jag tillämpar en kvalitativ metod med åtta intervjupersoner, fyra på respektive center. Uppsatsen visar att synen på kompetensutveckling till stor del överensstämmer mellan intervjupersonerna, att den både sker genom utbildningar och i det dagliga arbetet vilket även är i linje med SATS syn.

This Master thesis aims to illuminate nine librarians relation to professional information. This is accomplished by focusing on five questions: How do they communicate and acquire professional information, and how do they evaluate its relevance? What are their experiences of continuing professional education? What are their opinions on the academicalisation of the education? Is it possible to perceive something of the librarians professional project in the informants statements? What is their relation to the academic subject of library and information science and the research on the area? The analysis is based upon the interviews with nine librarians and carried out with profession theory in order to study the role of theoretic knowledge in our participants professionalisation processes. We also use different context oriented theories to study the contextual dimension of information need and seeking. The conclusions of this Master thesis reveal that the communication between the theory of library and information science and the practice need to be improved if we want to see more of an evidence-based librarianship.