The focus of our dissertation is masculinity which is often a topic of debate in today?s society concerning areas such as violence, sport and paternal leave. Male studies are a relatively new field which means there is a lot remaining to be explored. We have chosen to explore how social class reflects on male identity. The reason we have chosen social class as a variable is due to a focus in the general debate of identity amongst the social sciences towards identities formed through consumption in the world of global mass-media.

Compressed air is a low efficiency media, and is thus very expensive to produce. This thesis work began by mind mapping how to create savings on the compressed air system at Billerud Skärblacka AB. Certain issues have been chosen for further studies.In order to identify the consumption of compressed air at PM 8 and 9, several measurements were made. At PM 8 there were not found any pressure drop, only large pressure variations for short periods of time. The causes of these pressure variations were not established.

This is a qualitative study which purpose is to examine the experiences of the recovery process after a treatment for eating disorders.                                                         The questions we have decided to examine are; how did the women adapt to a healthier life after treatment, what are the women's perceived experiences of the aspects related to identity and identity work, and what external social influence was seen as important for their adjustment process to a healthier life?Methods: We have used computer-supported and semi-structured interviews. There were a total of nine women who took part in the study.                                                                                                                    Results: Majority of these women have been recovered from their eating disorders, but some still have major or minor problems. They found it rather difficult to adjust their life's without an eating disorder.Conclusions: Increased self-awarness led to greater control over the eating disorder. The women could begin to confer the new features that they identified with.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the information need of the incubators that comes from Chalmers University of Technology and are situated at Chalmers Innovation. It is also of interest to investigate how Chalmers University Library covers this information need. The investigation was carried out using qualitative interviews with representatives of the incubators. They were asked questions about the perceived need of information and which type of contacts they had with the library. The result is that the incubators feel that there is a great need for business information that is hard to find.

This study aims to investigate, describe and discuss the views of a group of adolescents on their identity and the process of second language acquisition. They all came to Sweden and started studying in Swedish schools in the last three years without any knowledge of the Swedish language.The study has been conducted with respect to the adolescents own perspectives and what they consider important.The methods used are group discussions/ interviews, observations in class and informal discussions with teachers and adolescents.Their voices are described and discussed in this paper. One must take into consideration that there is no objective of being neutral or to generalize the results to any other group or category. On the contrary the study has involved critical self- scrutiny and active reflexivity according to ethnographic tradition.Symbolic interaction has provided a theoretical framework for the study. Looking into how social identities may be constructed or communicated from the adolescents voices and looking in to their use of language the study reveals that several expectations and situations need? to be met by different identities.

The purpose of this paper has been to study and to compare three novels, written by Katarina von Bredow, Syskonkärlek (1991), Som om ingenting (1999) and Som jag vill vara (2007), with focus on the protagonists. The aim was also to map how the novels relate to the contemporary youth novel, the girl book, Chick lit and Chick lit junior. The protagonists were compared on the basis of themes, sow as relationships within the family, boyfriend and friends, as well as identity. The protagonists have in common that the relation with their family members is important. The three protagonists consider that friendship is important.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate on what perspective or perspectives university teachers and librarians at a medium-sized university in Sweden base their view on information literacy. More specifically, how do the respondents view their own information literacy and what opinions they have of their students? information literacy as professionals. Three perspectives are used to interpret the results, the sociocultural perspective, the phenomenographical perspective and the behavioristic perspective.The method used is semi structured interviews with three university teachers and three librarians.Both librarians and teachers emphasize the importance of information literacy, for themselves as well as for students. The information literacy of the librarians involves being well acquainted with the subjects of the students.

Background: The district nurse's competence description is comprehensive and sets high standards for a wide range of skills. The population's need for health care will rise according to life expectancy, lifestyle diseases and multi-morbidity increases. To graduate as a district nurse, 75 higher education credits are needed and after graduation, the district nurse must have developed both personal qualities and gained skills that makes it possible to work in primary care, child / school health care and home care. Aim: The aim of this study is to highlight the newly qualified district nurse experiences in developing professional identity and describe on how this development affects nursing.Method: In the pilot study a qualitative method with an inductive approach was used, and data collection was made by four semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

AbstractHuvudfrågeställningen för uppsatsen är hur invandrarungdomar upplever och hanterar sin livssituation i de två kulturella världar de eventuellt lever i, den ursprungliga och den svenska kulturen? Undersökningen är utförd kvalitativt och baseras på fem intervjuer. De intervjuade har haft sin primära socialisation i hemlandet och under tidig ålder flyttat till Sverige. Teoretiskt utgår uppsatsen från Berger & Luckman, Jenkins, Ålund och Deniz vilka med sina skilda teorier förklarar varför identitetsprocessen och tillhörigheten är komplexfyllda för invandrarungdomar. Tidigare forskning har visat att invandrarungdomar upplever skilda problem i sin vardag därför att de lever i utkanten av två skilda kulturer.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how different kinds of information seekers are evaluating information quality in the information flow online. To address the problem stated, qualitative interviews were carried out with a librarian as a reference person and a group consisting of journalists and scientists. The result of the study implies that the reference person is well aware of the strategies employed by her in the search process. However, the respondents are not aware of the strategies they are actually using. An explanation is the respondents lack of education in information seeking.

The aim of the thesis was to provide further understanding on how Swedish consumers use the Internet as an information source in their purchase decision process. The subject was investigated from different perspectives: gender, product type and information type. The authors used a quantitative approach, and a survey (n=120) was conducted. It was concluded that men and women are equally influenced by traditional word-of-mouth, but more men than women search for product information online and they are more likely to let their purchase decision to be influenced by it. Women tend more to trust commercial sources.

Competition is keen in the fashion industry of today. Homogenous products and prices aredriving competition and most firms are struggling hard to attract customers. Brands havebecome one of the most important assets for success and are often critical for the choices of theconsumers. A strong brand is often considered as a substantial value in the eyes of the consumerand gives the individual firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. To build a strongbrand it takes that the brand identity not is in conflict with the brand image of a firm or a product.Sometimes one of these conflicts exit and sometimes the firms are not even aware of it.In this thesis we study how two firms, Lindex and Prada, perceive their own image and then wecompare how the images of the firms are perceived by the customers.

The aim of this essay is to investigate and evaluate the arguments made by municipal politicians in Ulricehamn, regarding the planned Knowledge and Culture Centre. A part from the search for these arguments, I also investigated the attitudes among politicians regarding municipal culture investments in general. I furthermore investigated whether any national, regional, or local culture-political strategies were important in the local debate. The time frame within which the local political culture debate was investigated was from 1997 until present time 2002. The investigation methods used were partly a study of official documents such as political protocols, two articles from the local newspaper, and a clean copy from a web chat, and partly a qualitative study I sent a question regarding the planned Culture Centre to every political party active in the Ulricehamn municipal assembly.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a number of strategically selected employees at the Swedish Institute, with the purpose to promote Sweden in the world, look at the challenges facing Sweden concerning nation branding in the new era of cooperation within the European Union. I examine how these people look upon the work of public diplomacy and nation branding in order to actively participate and influence the EU's common communications platform.Material/Method: The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. The reason why I chose this method is because I consider it to be the most appropriate in order to collect information about how these selected employees at the Swedish institute regard the challenges that lay ahead in terms of nation branding within the European Union.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the analysis, it can be concluded that it is of utmost importance to take the societal changes, which are a result both of the worldwide globalization and the EU cooperation, into consideration when designing a future communication strategy for the Swedish Institute. The nation-state continues to play an important role in Sweden, but its importance is declining as the EU cooperation is progressing. The citizens? identity plays a crucial role in designing a nation?s communications strategy, and from the analysis I conclude that we move not from a Swedish to a European identity, but towards a pluralistic union where multiple identities meet under one umbrella; the EU..

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment Of Internal Medicine And Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: The effect of CLA on body weight and body fat amongst overweight and obese.Author: Sierra De Goldsmith and Amanda EgebergSupervisor: Frode SlindeExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgram: Dietician study program 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: April 12, 2012Background: Overweight and obesity represents a global problem as it is accompanied by an accumulation of body fat which increases the risk of developing diseases such as diabetes type 2, insulin resistance, cardio vascular diseases and certain types of cancer. Moreover, the prevalence is increasing worldwide. Many consider it difficult to reach a normal weight using only methods such as changing dietary- and exercise habits, this creating a market for products that facilitate weight loss and loss of body fat. The supplement of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is such a product. In animal studies, CLA has demonstrated a reduction in both body fat and weight.