The phenomenona MMORPG-games ? a qualitative study on MMORPG-games effects on the players lifeThe aim of this study was to shed lights on what it is that makes some people play MMORPG-games, get a insight in how a gamers social network can look like and how the game can change the players everyday life. To acchieve this aim the authors carried out four individual interwievs with MMORPG-players. These interwieves was hermeneutic interpreted with the socialantropology networkstheory, roletheory, social identitytheory and the entirety was interpreted with the concept: ?the late modern society?.The conclusions that was found were that the games helps the players to handle their everyday life and has a condition for the players to produce relationships with other players.

Agile systems development has in recent years become very popular, and many companies today claims to be working agile. At the same time there are studies about agile system development that indicate that there are difficulties in fully adopting the agile way. The purpose of this qualitative study has been to examine how true Swedish IT-companies conduct their agile system development compared to agile theory, and we have specifically for the purpose of the study designed a framework that has been used as an analytical tool. The framework helped us to maintain a structured and objective approach when we examined the participating companies and their practices. The study showed that there were differences regarding how true to agile theory the different companies conducts their agile projects, and that the differences in part depends on how long the companies have been working agile.

Background: Previously research shows that people treated conservatively can have reduced foot function after Achilles tendon rupture. However, there are few qualitative studies in the subject, so this essay is written to provide a deeper understanding of how these people feel about their foot function one to two years after the injury.Purpose: Investigate how people perceive their foot function after conservative treatment one to two year after Achilles tendon rupture and if they have an avoidance behavior in their everyday lives.Method: Four people who suffered from Achilles tendon rupture participated in this qualitative study. The study was conducted with semi-structured interviews, which in turn were processed using qualitative content analysis.Results: The perceived foot function is today varied in terms of mobility, strength and pain according to the participants. They feel difference in their everyday life in comparison with before the injury. It appears that participants have avoidance behavior when it comes to the situation of injury.

Mind-mindedness refers to the mother?s ability to treat her child as an individual with a mental life of his or her own. In the present study, the purpose is to investigate the relationship between the amount of mind-related comments the mother produces when the child is 9 months of age and the child?s development in language and communication at the age of 15 months. The hypothesis is that the amount of mind-related comments the mother produces has a positive affect on the child?s language abilities as well as his or her ability to initiate joint attention.

In order to increase the independence in everyday life of the elderly population, we have developed a lifting aid for loading in the private car trunk. Independence from outside assistance affects self-esteem in a positive direction and can help increase the quality of life for a large group of individuals. As people age and experience changes in performance, it is important that aids and support is available, particularly to reduce the experience of aging and it?s increasing physical limitations. The aim was to develop a function prototype characterized by simplicity, which facilitates loading of the private cartrunk.The project was conducted at the request of Autoadapt AB, which is one of the leadingactors in car adaptations for individuals with disablilities.

This paper is a research review in the realm of censorship systems andfiltering systems. It applies ethical considerations to the creation of censorshipsystems bringing forward discussion on the ethics of technology with thepurpose of limiting access to information.There is active research being done in the area of automatic content filteringand censorship systems. These are systems that can filter out undesiredmaterial, typically from the Internet, automatically. Used in some nations,many schools and even mandated in some libraries there are many ethicalquestions raised concerning censorship and access to information.Part of the review concerns the level of accuracy of these systems presentedby researchers in the field and the different approaches used. Reviewedarticles centre around automatic content classification and filtering ofpotentially harmful materials with regards to minors while some relate tocensorship technology in a wider sense.Results show a general lack of discussion concerning the ethics of thetechnology in the research reviewed.

Title:                          Leadership development of individuals in management positions Authors:                    Carl Renér and Peter Simonsson  Institution:                Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics Program:                   Human Resource Management Course:                      Business administration ? Organization including thesis, 15 credits Supervisor:               Olle Duhlin (Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics) Examiner:                 Mikael Lundgren (Linneaus University, School of Business and Economics) It is widely known that the role of managers may result in stress and a heavy workload. As a result of this negative effects organisations have to counteract and find new solutions and systems to facilitate and assist leaders in their work. A popular method for leadership development has come to show both in research and in practice, especially in recent years, this popular method is known as mentoring. This form of leadership development is often applied in so called mentoring programs.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the various factors that influence the balancebetween the working lives and family lives of social workers. The research questions posedwere: Do social workers consider there is a conflict between their working lives and familylives? Which factors make maintaining a balance between working life and family life moredifficult and which make it easier to do so? How do social workers describe equality betweenthe sexes in their own family? Regarding methodology, the selection method is strategic andcombines data sources with quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The material collectedand via online survey, targeted to 120 municipal employees social workers in a district councilin a big city, and through interviews with four social workers in a rural community. The studywas performed using gender theory and the demand-support-control model.

Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients? quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her ??wishes.

In the palliative care there are many close encounters between the care-taker and the care-giver. To be touched is foundational to every human being and the care-giver shows his presence to the care-taker, when he touch the care-taker. Touch is an important tool for the care-giver in the care for the care-taker. It becomes a natural way of communicating. The aim of this literature study was to describe which factors that are important, for the care-taker in the palliative care, to receive touch in the purpose of feeling well-being.

Around 30,000 people in Sweden suffer stroke every year, out of which about 12,000 end up with language difficulties, aphasia. Behind every person with aphasia there are significant others whose lives are also affected. Studies of how aphasia affects the health of these people are few. The overall aim of the present study was to examine how significant others of people with aphasia perceive their life situation, and how their quality of life is affected by the illness of their partner. Spouses of people with aphasia were contacted through aphasia groups and the Swedish Aphasia Association.

The town square is an important public space and is often described as the city´s living room. By creating a lively city center a sense of security is developed among the citizens which makes them wanting to use the town square regardless the time of the day. One important meeting point in Gävle is the centrally located Stortorget, sited between Drottninggatan and Nygatan. The town square went through an extensive renovation followed by both positive and negative reactions among the City´s inhabitants.  The aim with the study was to investigate the main walking paths and meeting points as a planning support to Gävle Municipality in their work with a new city plan. By studying the pedestrian movement patterns at Stortorget, Nygatan and Drottninggatan, the main walking paths and meeting points during all hours of the day was obtained.

The purpose of doing this essay was to illustrate how people living with chronic disease, dependent on medical technology experience their life situation. The study includes people with either dialysis therapy, mechanical ventilator or chronic oxygen therapy. A meta-synthesis was used as a method where a systematically review of studies that are made in a given issue compiles. Findings of the studies resulted in a synthesis of three themes: Limitations in life as a consequence of life-long treatment, to take responsibility for your life provide self-esteem and safeness, and to be cared for in different contexts ?help or prohibit.

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.

The purpose of this master thesis is to describe the professional and literary life of Karl-Gunnar Wall, city librarian of Katrineholm between 1944 and 1975. Questions at issue are the reasons for Walls literary interests, Walls choice of occupation, crucial personal meetings, the context in which Wall acts, Walls fundamental principles as a librarian and as a critic, and the features comprising Walls life history. The method used is a merely qualitative one called "life history". It is founded on in-depth interviews with the persons involved and emanates from the individuals own story about his life. I have carried out three taped interviews; one with Wall himself, and two with his colleagues.