BACKGROUND: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a slow progressive disease affecting the family caregivers by limiting their lifestyle. Subsequently the situation can be experienced as stressful for both the afflicted and the relatives. To easier understand the needs of the caregivers of family members suffering from COPD have, it is important to get an insight into their experience of every-day life, so that medical staff can help, support and promote their health according to their needs. AIM: To illustrate caregivers? experiences of living with a family member suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

The largest project at the AICG lab at Linköping University, Cognitive models for virtual characters, focuses on creating an agent architecture for intelligent, virtual characters. The goal is to create an agent that acts naturally and gives a realistic user experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop and implement an appropriate learning model that fits the existing agent architecture using an agile project methodology. The model developed can be seen as an online unsupervised reinforcement learning model that enhances experiences through reward. The model is based on Maes model where new effects are created depending on whether the agent is fulfilling its goals or not.The model we have developed is based on constant monitoring of the system.

Background: Mergers have been increasing during the latter part of the 1990s. In the Nordic region many previously national companies have joined their forces to create a new Nordic company. This will lead to many challenges when the companies are integrated.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the integration phase. Our goal is to study the integration of Cloetta Fazer and learn how the company can handle the two types of integration. Procedure: To be able to prove our assumptions, that were made on the basis of literature, we have collected empirical material by interviewing eight managers at Cloetta Fazer.

Introduction: During the last decades, the development of the communication society has contributed to new patterns of communications among people, but also increased the use of computers and mobile devices. It has become more common to communicate through social medias, which has led to the new phenomena cyberbullying. At the same time, studies have shown an increase in mental health problems among adolescents during the last 25 years. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to investigate and map the characteristics of cyberbullying and its relationship to mental health among adolescents. The aim was also to investigate adolescents own actions to stop cyberbullying.

Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD) is a collective term for a specific form of hearing loss within a heterogeneous population of patients with mutual audiological test-profile. Cochlear implantation in children with ANSD has been found to result in good outcomes. Previous research, however, has shown the existence of a subgroup of children with ANSD who do not benefit from cochlear implantation but instead are in need of alternative methods of communication. The aim of this literature review was to examine the possibilities to predict outcomes of cochlear implantation in children with ANSD by pre-, intra- or postoperative examinations/measurements and thereby evaluate in which cases cochlear implantation is an appropriate intervention within this group of patients. The material consisted of 10 scientific papers published between 2007-2014.

By immersion in the situation of the food production today and a historical study of how past development has led us to this point, one goal of this essay is to discuss whether the current way of farming can be applied in a sustainable future. Another objective of the essay is to study the vision Vertical farming as an alternative approach, and to focus on different aspects of this phenomenon in order to provide as comprehensive a picture as possible.The paper, thus, seeks to broaden the views for alternative approaches regarding a well-established method which we often take for granted. The aim is also to initiate a discussion around the need to also take radical ideas in regard if we want to face the future in a sustainable manner. The method is a qualitative literary study where scientific articles and papers have been used to discuss the issues: why has the idea of Vertical farming arisen, what is Vertical farming and how is the Vertical Farm meant to operate? Does Vertical farming have a place in the sustainable city of the future? For a long time us humans lived as one with nature, in a symbiotic relationship in which we gave and took as a functioning part of an ecosystem.

A vulnerable group in society is people with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) or autism. This group seems to increase, mainly due to genetic factors but also environmental problems. Medical research has accelerated in the U.S. and Europe. The biggest problem for people with disabilities is the inability to communicate, both verbally and socially.

In this work, I describe the factors that affect the bucking of pine logs on the basis of the machine operator. The aim is to find an explanation why the bucking differs so greatly between requested length results and the actual length results in pine bucking. The used methods in this study were data from simulated pine outcomes, data from earlier length outcomes and analysis of the harvesters' PRI files. This is to identify the problem. To explain the background to the problems a qualitative research interview was used.

Scientific studies show that good leadership is a key factor for group- and individual development. Studies have also shown that the contrary can curb talented individuals and/or cause stagnation, or even cause groups to halt their progression. This essay studies how leaders in musical and athletic environments look on their own leadership. In interviews, the leaders reflect upon experienced issues related to their profession, their views on difficulties in their leading role, as well as individual, and group development. This study also includes two observations, one in each field of profession.

The purpose with this essay was to examine and bring a deeper comprehension about brands as a phenomenon. We also wanted to study if strong brands could develop in to strategic competition means and by that expand their market range. To do this we used a qualitative method. We started by gathering a theoretical basis. This gave us a platform, which helped us learn more about the subject, brands.

Background:The concept of transition means a change in a person's life where he or she is forced to adapt. There are different phases in life that results in different adaptations. In this essay, transition is described as the physical and mental journey between the home and an elder care facility. The Aim was to describe elderly people's experiences of transition when moving from their previous home into an elder care facility. The Method used was a literature review.

BACKGROUND: Several people die every year. The numbers of deceased in Sweden were 91449 in 2008. This often brings bereavement for the relatives and in hospital with end-of-life care it can be important for the health professionals to support and also take care of the relatives. AIM: The aim of this study is to illuminate relatives? experiences of the caring situation with end-of life-care when a close relative is dying METHOD: Literature review.

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of women's violence against men in intimate relationships, get an idea of ??what forms of expression that this type of violence has and to highlight the men's experiences of violence.There is little scientific research in the field in Sweden. Crime Prevention Council has determined that eight percent of all complaints involving domestic violence in 2010, reported by men over 18 years. You can only speculate on how large number of unreported cases is among abused men. The international studies highlight that the abused men feel ashamed of having been subjected to violence by a female partner.I have been based this essay on two theoretical premises, Per Isdal theory of "violence perspective" and Elaine Bergqvist's definition of the suppression technique.The study was conducted through a qualitative content analysis.

Rabbits today are used for different reasons. They are often held as pet rabbits but they also can be found at zoos, in laboratories and as a producing animal where their meat, fur or wool are used. All rabbits in Sweden are protected by the Swedish animal welfare legislation. For rabbits held as pets, in laboratories or at zoos there are more detailed rules or regulations that defines for example how much space the rabbit must have or how the cage should be enriched. For rabbits in the production there is no detailed legislation, which is a problem because their welfare could be hard to secure when the producers do not have any guidelines to follow. Rabbits are social animals and therefore they should have the company from either one other rabbit, or from the owner.

Society today is characterized by the transforming effect IT has had, the majority of the activities we perform on a daily basis involves one way or another digital technology. One area which has not yet seen the positive effects of IT is education. Despite the progress of technology, the school education has barely changed since it first saw the light of day. Our goal with this study is to investigate the possibility of implementing Gamification elements in educational environments and examine whether it could increase our young students learning motivation. We believe that this kind of implementation will have a positive effect for these young people since they have been interacting with games since they were small and are familiar with the driving force of a reward system.With this study we want to examine the opportunities and challenges that Gamification implementation brings out in a learning environment and therefore encourage and motivate our young ones to study even harder..