This is a study about engagements and motivation. Its purpose is, by looking at other motivational theories than Abraham Maslow?s hierarchy of needs, to find out why certain people choose to become engaged as student representatives. The question this study is working from is: why do certain people choose to engage themselves as student representatives?This study has a qualitative approach, which means that a number of interviews have been done and subsequently profoundly analyzed.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to increase the knowledge about how public libraries can contribute to fulfil political programmes aimed towards integration. To achieve this we have conducted an evaluative case study about a public library in Sweden and the activities they carried out within the framework of the metropolitan policy programme Storstadssatsningen?. The questions raised consider which the political aims for integration within this programme were, which activities the library did accomplish, what the result in comparison with the politically decided aims was, and what conclusions can possibly be drawn from this? The theoretical framework consists of theories regarding evaluation, political programmes, integration and segregation, and public library-activities.

This thesis suggest an explanation for is how it is possible to understand that the large arena project in Växjö grew to cost sums of money that initially in the project not would have been an alternative to discuss, how goals changed and how the institutional environment changed the prerequisites of the project. As empirical part of the research, to describe and analyze the project, the municipality?s documentation of the project have been analyzed and semi-structured interviews have been made. Theoretical perspective is taken from the neo-institutionalism in sociology of organizations and change, and theories of the complexity of large projects with major symbolic value and importance. The project starts with the municipality?s investment and cost to be hold back, defined as a necessary condition in order to fulfil an ambitious drive towards new sport arenas.  Eventually the necessary condition was abandoned and the arenas were built with the municipality responsible for the investment, cost and risk in the project.

The purpose of this study is to propose and formulate quantitative indicators to help measure an aspect of the Environmental Objectives in Swedish legislation: ?A Good Built Environment, Interim Target 2.? The governmental bill 2004/05:150 suggests changes to Interim Target 2: By 2010 built environments of cultural heritage value will be identified and placed under long-term sustainable management. Following the revised formulation regarding sustainable management, indicators should be formulated to measure the fulfilment of sustainable management of built environments of cultural heritage value. An important part of management takes place at the municipal level of planning, where detailed development plans include regulations to protect built environments of substantial cultural heritage value. As a result, this study is focusing upon the regulatory function of the Swedish Planning and Building Act in respect to the built environments of cultural heritage value.

In Sweden whenever trains or maintenance workers want access to the railway system, their requests of usage and movements are being supervised, granted and handled by train dispatchers. The profession holds a key role in making the complex railway system work in terms of efficiency, safety and delivering on-time arrivals. This master thesis, delegated by the Swedish Transport Administration, has been carried out at the Division of Human Computer Interaction at Uppsala University and at the train traffic control center in Gävle. The aim has been to map what information the train dispatchers use in order to make safety-related decisions concerning their working goals. And further to describe and analyze how the train dispatchers, visavi their tools and systems in the work domain, gather necessary information.The result indicates a complex, diverse and spread out setting of different programs, procedures and tools that make satisfactory fulfilment of efficiency, safety and punctuality in relation to the time table hard.

The research objective of this thesis was to conduct a holistic evaluation of an operational information system. By holistic evaluation we mean that an equal focus was placed on both the system system perspective and its users user perspective, in the actual environment where the system and its users function contextuality. In addition, the methodological objective of the study was to test a new research approach in a real life setting. The participants of the study were twenty newspaper journalists employed at Göteborgs-Posten GP. The information system NewsLink is a manually indexed full-text database containing all articles published in GP since 1994.

Travelling by train has increased during the last decades in Sweden. This has put pressure on the existing infrastructure and has created problems with delays and cancelled departures. The railway is a complex system with mutual dependencies and high vulnerability for disruptions. The situation for the railway system in the Stockholm region is today strained. The capacity is fully used.

Projektanställningen är en av de atypiska anställningsformer som faller under begreppet tidsbegränsade anställningar och anses vara den mest gynnade gruppen inom samlingsnamnet. Genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie baserad på 8 djupintervjuer ämnar uppsatsen ge en ökad bild av intervjupersonernas upplevelser av hur arbetslivets sfär och den privata sfären kombineras och inverkar på varandra. Analysen utgår från en teoretisk referensram bestående av sociologerna Sennett, Giddens, Castells, Beck, Berger & Luckmann samt Bauman. Resultaten tyder på att arbetslivet har en starkt identitetsskapande effekt och att anknytningen till arbetet, de sociala relationerna i individernas kontaktnät, upplevs som starka. I studien framkommer att intervjupersonerna som under lång tid arbetat som projektanställda inom mediebranschen upplever arbetet som givande, intressant och möjlighetsskapande.

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to compare two American novel suites for young women, Louisa May Alcott?s Little Women and Good Wives to Ann Brashares series of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The social status of women and children in the US during the 19th century is analyzed and compared historically and literary with the situation 130 years later.The main question is, what differences exist in the books and is there a connection between the changes in society and literature?The method of this Master Thesis is to make a comparative narratological analysis placed in a historical context.The result shows that the multiple character remains and enhances the identification process. Motherhood in the works of Alcott is prominent, whereas in the works of Brashares, sisterhood replaces motherhood.In Alcott?s US during the 19th century, Christian faith was in the foreground.

The aim of this study is to gain an increased knowledge and deeper understanding of compulsive gambling and its consequences in today?s society. Gambling addiction will be described and analysed by a selection of experts, therapists and people with an addictive gambling background. The basis of the empirical research has been undertaken by a qualitative design with interviews consisting of three fundamental themes. The research group of eight participants included four gamblers, two therapists and two specialists.

Alla elever i grundskolan, ska sedan januari 2006, ha en individuell utvecklingsplan vars syfte främst är att stödja elevers måluppfyllelse, enligt de nationella styrdokumen-ten. I Skolverkets allmänna råd (2005) anges att elever såväl som föräldrar ska ges del-aktighet och inflytande över arbetet med IUP. Vi har en uppfattning om att en samver-kansprocess, mellan lärare, elev och föräldrar, kring arbetet med IUP är av vikt för att eleven ska nå ökad måluppfyllelse. Därför var syftet med studien att belysa hur elever och föräldrar uppfattar sin delaktighet i samverkansprocessen kring IUP samt hur lära-ren gör för att involvera elever och föräldrar i det arbetet. För att få en bild av hur sam-verkansprocessen kring den individuella utvecklingsplanen uppfattas av lärare, elever och föräldrar har såväl kvalitativa som kvantitativa metoder använts.

Alla elever i grundskolan, ska sedan januari 2006, ha en individuell utvecklingsplan vars syfte främst är att stödja elevers måluppfyllelse, enligt de nationella styrdokumen-ten. I Skolverkets allmänna råd (2005) anges att elever såväl som föräldrar ska ges del-aktighet och inflytande över arbetet med IUP. Vi har en uppfattning om att en samver-kansprocess, mellan lärare, elev och föräldrar, kring arbetet med IUP är av vikt för att eleven ska nå ökad måluppfyllelse. Därför var syftet med studien att belysa hur elever och föräldrar uppfattar sin delaktighet i samverkansprocessen kring IUP samt hur lära-ren gör för att involvera elever och föräldrar i det arbetet. För att få en bild av hur sam-verkansprocessen kring den individuella utvecklingsplanen uppfattas av lärare, elever och föräldrar har såväl kvalitativa som kvantitativa metoder använts.

Stora Enso Skog has a long term contract regarding felling rights and silvicultural activities on forest owned by Bergvik Skog. In the autumn 2006, Bergvik Skog proposed a new thinning program, ?Bergvikgallring?. The new program implied an increased focus on extraction of smaller trees compared to the present thinning program, Stora Enso Skog?s ?Kvalitetsgallring?.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.