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..

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.

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..

Science center har visat sig vara en utmärkt plats för undervisning. Detta är en studie av på vilket sätt ett skolbesök på ett Science center kan bidra till att målen för år 9 uppnås och om ett besök på ett Science center kan utgöra ett komplement till den vanliga skolundervisningen. Särskilt studeras ämnesområdet astronomi och kosmologi (universum och vårt solsystem) i ämnet fysik. Undersökningen är gjord på Universeum i Göteborg. Metoden i undersökningen är intervjuer och observationer.

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.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if there are environments that use some kind of central authentication system within institutions/schools. The hypothesis is that an institution not using a form of central authentication service has more need for maintenance and as such is considered a higher cost for the organization. The gathering of data has been done through interviews with technical personal at Blekinge Tekniska Högskola and Linköpings Universitet. Based on the technical background of the authors, and the system limited to discussing Windows and UNIX operating systems, a discussion and analysis of the systems working today has been done, with emphasize on the hypothesis..

The purpose of this essay is to find an answer to whether the methodology used by the Naturskolan conduces to learning and also if the Naturskolan, as a method of its own, leads to an increased interest in natural Science for the pupils participating in the classes at the Naturskolan.The method which has been used to reach the results of the study is a quantitative opinion poll. The results reached through the study has been compared to previous research in the subject. Deeper studies were made to examine however the interest of the pupils was influenced by their visit at the Naturskolan.The results of the study show an increase of interest in natural Science after visiting the Naturskolan. It also shows that the teachers? interest in natural Science and outdoor pedagogy has increased by the visit at the Naturskolan.Through this study we came to the conclusion that the Naturskolan is a good method to learning..

AbstractThis study deals with NTA in preschool and the purpose of the study is to find out how the NTA project works out in practice. In the empirical study I have used questionnaires as a research method (Trost2001). Questionnaires have been sent to preschool teachers in the whole of Sweden to get as good a selection as possible. The responses received have been processed and analyzed. The results are reported below.The majority of the teachers thought it worked well to work with the NTA.

AbstractIn the paper, democracy's development and change are studied in Swedish textbooks related to social Science. The study?s starting point is that the picture of democracy provided to students has changed over time. The study aims to see how the view on democracy has altered in Swedish textbooks in social Science. In order to examine this, I have studied seven textbooks, from 1945 to 2006, in social Science.