Eco-design is all about improving products environmental performances throughout the products lifecycle by including the environmental aspect into the product development process. There are a large number of different tools that can be used for this, but there are several factors that can affect which one will be the best to use. Some tools for eco-design takes comprehensive studies and can only be performed by experts, while some tools can be used more time- and cost efficient and with basic knowledge. The choice of tool should be based on the company?s situation.This report describes the research of how the design and furniture company Blå Station could include a tool for eco-design in their product development process.

The subject field studied in this essay is environmental scanning. The aim of this study is to analyse how three public organizations within the subject field sustainable development work with their environmental scanning. Most organizations have to relate to their surroundings such as clients and competitors. Environmental scanning is another very important field that organizations have to relate to in their work. This essay has three questions in focus which are the following;How is the work with environmental scanning in the three organizations arranged?How does the work with environmental scanning differ in the three organizations?How important is environmental scanning for the subject field sustainable development?The study was carried out through four conducted interviews with key persons within the three organizations.

This report is an attempt to clarify how religious and non-religious views-of-life [livsåskådningar] are created through the collaboration and opposition of religious and scientific elements/ideas. This with the hope of reaching a fruitful result related to the solution of world-view related conflicts, such as the ones existing between science and religion, on an individual and societal level.This is accomplished with the help of two assertions: (1) Mankind has a need to explain its existence and surroundings. (2) Religion and science has their origins in the same seed and aim to serve the same purpose, or function. Together these two assertions lay the theoretical foundations of this report which implies that all humans have an innate need of sustaining a stable world-view.The result of this report is that a final solution to world-view related conflicts are beyond reach as our mental and physical nature limits us. However there are strategies for minimizing world-view related conflicts effect on society..

The point of interest in this study is to identify whether ethnicity is a correlating factor regarding Hungarian immigrants? development of identity in Sweden. The general aim is to increase knowledge and understanding of the conditions for the Hungarian ethnical group in Sweden to reach self-realization. The main question is whether the general view of the background of this ethnical group has a connection to their self-realization in Sweden? Since the study involves a whole group of minority, a limitation has been made to adults living in the city of Halmstad, Sweden.

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a broad discipline that studies different concerns regarding interactive systems? development. One of the major interest points within the discipline is the reasoning behind building specific functionality into computers and the long-term effects that usage of systems will have on humans.Within Human Computer Interaction there are theories and frameworks how to involve a user in the process of developing new systems. In this paper focus is applied to the development process within developing applications for Enterprice Digital Assistants (EDA) and to what extent the end-users are involved in the process. Fazer Bageri AB has been choosen to represent a business corporation that uses handheld computers in their everyday tasks.The method used to gather information for this study has been by performing interviews and observations with key stakeholders at Fazer Bageri AB and MobiOne AB.

This thesis provides a descriptive study from a pedagogic perspective that analyzesobjectives, directives and content related to the social science core class, SAMSAM01b, atGothenburg public high schools. The purpose is to further explore the role of education inrelation to global development and international relations. The study is built aroundcurriculum representation and course implementation of three aspects considered importantfor global development and knowledge of the operating environment: critical thinking,international cooperation and sustainable development. Knowledge theory and likemindedideas of what constitutes a good education form the core of the study?s theoreticalperspective.

The aim of this study is to look closer at collection development and the use of collection development policies in Swedish public libraries, with the help of a few examples. Through interviews with three librarians in three different public libraries and an analysis of these libraries? collection development policies, the authors try to find out how the creation of collection development policies takes place in these libraries, how these librarians use the policy, how these policies have been followed up and revised, and also to see what the policies of these libraries include. The material of the study suggests that a lot of work is required to write the policies, and that the written policy itself is seldom used by the librarians. The interviewed librarians still find the policies useful because the writing of them gave a detailed understanding of what the collection of the library contains.

Recently, there have been intense discussions about the humanities and their role in society. Internationally, as well as in a Swedish context, the humanities have been regarded to be in a state of crisis. However, these discussions usually demonstrate a lack of historical perspectives based on thorough empirical research. The notion of a crisis needs to be historicized.In this study, a case is being examined where the relationship between science and society was renegotiated. In the context of World War II, a discourse has been identified in a borderland between science and politics through an analysis of Swedish journals and anthologies during the time period 1937-1947.

Background: Resources that are hard to put a value on and cannot be classified as assets in the balance sheet as well as the development towards the information society has led to an increasing need and use for voluntary information in the annual reports. The increase of voluntary information can foremost be seen in the field of human resources.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe the development of voluntary information about human resources in the annual report of a number of Swedish quoted companies. The purpose is also to see if there is a difference in the development between manufacturing companies and service companies.Method: Six manufacturing companies and six service companies were chosen from the Stockholm exchange A-list. Using both a qualitative and quantitative research method the annual reports of the chosencompanies were studied for the years 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003. A model consisting of seven categories; health, diversity, recruitment, staff turnover and comfort, benefits and motivation, education and competence development, was developed to clarify were the development took place.Conclusions: After finishing the study one can tell that the amount of voluntary information about human resources in the annual report has increased even though the percentage share of the total annual report only has increased appreciably for manufacturing companies.

The purpose of this study is to compare students (both male and female), from the Linnaeus University in Kalmar, about their perceptions with a particular focus on identity and self-esteem. In regards to the current societal problem concerning obesity and beauty ideals, this paper aimed to study the student?s opinions concerning health and diets in order to fully answer the purpose of the study. The theory used in this paper is in particular regards to identity and self-esteem. In order to answer the study questions, a qualitative approach was conducted in the form of various focus groups.

Environmental problems are accelerating with energy consumption and the release of greenhouse gases as the major issues. This affects landscape planning mostly through environmentally hazardous transportation and heating of buildings. In environmental work, the term "Sustainable development" is often used. This term was coined in the Bruntland report in 1987. A number of frameworks have been developed to clarify the term and to remind the user about relevant aspects of sustainability.

New innovation and technology have influenced the development of product development processes and the four largest banks in Sweden have more or less been forced to adapt their products and services along new customer requirements. It may therefore be considered appropriate to involve customers in this process. This by collecting customer information and allow customers to influence the process to a greater extent. The payment solutions of Sweden?s largest banks' continue to evolve and to pay with electronic money has come to change banks' product development processes of payment solutions.

The purpose of this thesis is to study five pedagogue?s view of the free play and their view of the importance of the free play for children´s learning and development. I have chosen to use a qualitative research method in the form of interviews with five pedagogue´s from a preschool. The main research questions asked were:What have the pedagogues of view on the free play? How important believe the pedagogue that the free play is for children?s learning and development? What has emerged in the study is that educators have a positive view of the free play. They believed that the free play is important for children´s skills.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to analyse if the UN today constructs the water issue as a security issue and to argue about in which way the organization in that case does so alternatively why it can be said that the UN doesn?t construct the water issue as a security issue.In order to reach this purpose the following questions will be answered:?Does the UN construct the water issue as a security issue today?-If yes, in which way?-If no, why can it be said that the organisation doesn?t?The methods used are qualitative literature studies of policy documents on water from the UN. The focus is to analyze the ideas about water and to apply my theory on the concept of security, which is Barry Buzan?s framework on security, to these ideas.The main results showed that the UN strongly constructs the water issue as an environmental security issue for environments and species and in relatively strong terms also constructs it as an environmental security issue for civilisations. In rare cases the organisation constructs it as a societal security issue, but the UN doesn?t construct the water issue as a military, political or economic security issue..

In this study I have compared two different development methods of reading and writing. I have done this by interviewing five first grade teachers in elementary schools and it is based on qualitative research interviews. The aim of the study was to immerse myself in which methods these five teachers describe that they have used. They got to describe how they work and how they have tought the students to read and write. I have investigated if the teachers think that the computer is a good tool. The investigation also shows if the teachers believe that the students´ writing skills deteriorate if they can use the keyboard instead. I came to the conclusion that four of the teachers used Arne Trageton´s method (2005) which means that the students learn how to write by using to computer.