This thesis discusses the existential consequences for the human being in creatio ex nihilo, where the main subjects of discussion are contingency, freedom and identity. The starting-point of the discussion lies in the presentation of the history of the doctrine of creation, especially the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Once the historical and philosophical importance of the doctrine of creation is clear, the anthropological and theological consequences are obvious; creation is contingent and at the same time deeply dependent upon God. The contingency of creation may bring a sense of non-necessity among people, and therefore it makes the question of human freedom and identity in the doctrine of creation utterly important..

This study illuminates chosen parts of the present opportunities, in the Western World, for parents and children to choose which school the child will attend (freedom of choice), along with possible consequences that may follow. My research questions are: 1) Do tendencies show that freedom of choice leads to increased segregation, and if that is the case, how is it manifested and does it matter? 2) What relations between the student composition of schools and teachers' expectations and attitudes toward students are there? 3) Do the results from previous studies match with the result from my interviews? The methods used for answering the questions are literature studies and interviews made with six teachers who are working in two upper secondary schools in the northern part of Sweden, i.e. three from each school.The result shows that freedom of choice, regarding schools, seems to lead to student compositions that contribute to increased segregation in societies. It leads to more homogenous student compositions, in the form of ethnicity and social class, in schools in general, with consequences like different expectations and attitudes among teachers depending on the status of the composition.

The main purpose of this study was to translate Stuttering Severity Instrument 3 and to evaluate its reliability and validity. Five speech-language pathologists assessed 35 adults who stutter with this assessment tool. Overall the results showed a very high inter- and intrarater reliability. A highly significant correlation between Stuttering Severity Instrument 3 and ratings of severity, made by the speech-language pathologists, strengthen the validityof Stuttering Severity Instrument 3. No correlation was found between the total score of Stuttering Severity Instrument 3 and the self-report measure Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering, whichindicates a lack of social validity in Stuttering Severity Instrument 3.

Social control in different forms has existed in all known societies. This control has taken different shapes and expressions. In older smaller communities there was a collective control among the citizens. In modern societies the state is trying to control the lives of the citizens. These control mechanisms can be seen as both freedom-reducing and freedom inducing depending on which concept of freedom one upholds.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there were anychanges in quality in the voices of speech and language pathology studentsafter four years of study at the University of Gothenburg. Recordings oftwenty student voices from the first and eight semesters were evaluatedperceptually by six speech-language pathologists. The parameters judgedwere: vocal fry, glottal attacks, strain, breathiness and resonant voice, usinga scale from 0 to 10. Acoustical measures were made of F0 mean andmedian to detect possible differences between the two recordings. Theresults show a significant decrease in vocal fry, glottal attacks and strain aswell as an increase in resonant voice and a significant decrease in F0 meanand median.

When searching for better and more practical interfaces between users and their computers, additional or alternative modes of communication between the two parties would be of great use. This thesis handles the possibilities of using eye and head movements as well as voice input as these alternative modes of communication. One part of this project is devoted to find possible interaction techniques when navigating in a computer interface with movements of the eye or the head. The result of this part is four different controls of an interface, adapted to suit this kind of navigation, combined together in a demo application. Another part of the project is devoted to the development of an application, with voice control as primary input method.

The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a qualitative study of the perceptions of language teachers as to their role in the teaching of values and morals to pupils. Five language teachers have been interviewed about their perceptions of how values are taught and their role therein. The interviews serve to investigate the reality of teaching values to pupils in a Swedish secondary school and the work involved in this on-going process, this being with a view to having a better understanding of just how important a role the teaching of values plays in the daily working life of a teacher. Terms such as fundamental values and morals can be difficult to define as they are highly personal and can differ from person to person depending on one?s background, experiences and family circumstances, for example.

In the years between 2012 and 2014, Burma has been shaken by waves of violence against Muslims which has resulted in destroyed mosques and shops, at least 140 000 displaced and 200 killed persons. The person who is said to lay behind this violence is the Burmese Theravada monk Ashin Wirathu. Being the founder and leader of the radical Buddhist movement 969, he has been accused of indirectly motivating violence against Muslims and has been portrayed with titles such as ?The face of buddhist terror?. This essay investigates the relation between Wirathu and the anti-Muslim violence by applying the method of content analysis on a speech of him.

The aim of this paper is to describe the position of the Swedish welfare state within the shaping of a Swedish national identity. This is done through the study of Mångkulturåret 2006, and its rhetorical context. The point of departure is that history is formed continuously in current speech and a text analytical method has been used. Mångkulturåret was issued by the Department of Culture as an extended perspective of Cultural politics. The rhetoric used in the official document Agenda för Mångkultur is analyzed through a comparison with earlier official documents on the field of multiculturalism and integration.

This essay is a normative analysis concerning the question of whether the government should be allowed to use taxes to finance the state. What kind of ethical problems arise when the government use taxation? If it is possible to justify taxation, despite potential moral issues, then what should the government do with the funds they have collected? What kinds of government functions are morally justified? Is it merely the kinds of functions that are supposed to uphold negative human rights; or should the government provide health care, education and even culture for the citizens? This analysis aims to answer those questions and also formulate a principle about what the government should be occupied with, if anything at all. In order to achieve this I mainly use the terms freedom and justice to analyse ethical problems. The ideas of John Rawls and Robert Nozick are essential in this project.My answer is that taxation is justified as long as the purpose is to maintain the most fundamental human rights and also under other special circumstances such as if an individual cannot find a way to finance basic education or necessary health care.

In 2012 blogging reached an all time high in Sweden. Around 400,000 people made blog posts at least one time during this year. Blogs have publishing as a main purpose and can after publication be read by anyone with a computer, smartphone or tablet with an Internet connection. This makes the blogger open to response through comments that can be either constructive or destructive. No research has been made regarding blog comments and their effect on bloggers and their writing process.

We have studied the effects that blogs have on the society through interviews with influential bloggers, a news director and the founder of Sweden?s largest blogprovider.Existing theoretical work by other researchers have been used as a starting point to our thesis. Via a deductive method we then proceeded to test these existing models and viewpoints on the reality.Through our research we have concluded that blogs, if they co-operate, have an agenda-setting function, and that they can affect newspapers to write about certain topics.We have also discussed blogs role as media watch dogs. Gunilla Sax, news director, questions the blog world?s ability to fully cover all media, and to deliver a systematic and just review of the media.

The purpose with this essay was to examine how the European Union is working totransfer norms to states they signed an agreement with and provide support for inframe of the Barcelona process and the Tacis programme. The theory which weused was Ian Manners (PhD in Political Science) theory of "the EU as a uniquenormative power". The aim was to examine whether the EU - which Manners mean- has had a normative power to influence states to change. We used a qualitativeapproach through the use of a multiple case study and qualitative text and contentanalysis. The States which formed the basis of our study were within the BarcelonaProcess; Morocco and Tunisia as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia funded by theTacis programme.

Den nya globala försvarsmakten ställer nya krav, inte minst på logistikkedjan där avstånden ökar och förutsättningarna för insats inte är lika klara som under det kalla kriget. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka krav ur en doktrinär synvinkel som kan komma att ställas på logistikkedjan på strategisk nivå kopplat till en strategisk rörlighet vid en framtida Svensk insats. Som empiri i uppsatsen används de doktriner och reglementen som finns i Sverige och i NATO som avhandlar logistikkedjan på strategisk nivå och strategisk rörlighet. Samt en fallstudie från Operation Iraqi freedom för att exemplifiera de krav som kan komma att ställas på logistikkedjan på strategisk nivå. Uppsatsens metod är deskription och fallstudie där fallstudien exemplifierar de problem som kan komma att uppstå.

The aim of this study is to analyse how pornography is used in the American comics X-Men, published by Marvel under the authorship of Chris Claremont.I have applied Butler and MacKinnons theories about pornography as a performative speech, to this special art form. I have also investigated how censorship has influenced the comics evolution and whether it has affected the way women and sexual and ethnical minorities are represented. To corroborate how these theories apply, I have analysed three main female fig-ures in The X-Men comics - Storm, Phoenix and Shadowcat - and I have tried to identify how they relate to existing stereotypes.The conclusion of this essay is that the women characters in X-Men break the existing stereo-types and create new implications. This reinforces Butler?s theory about the possibility to re-verse hate speech and diminishes MacKinnons perspective of pornography as an imperative..