The public sector in Sweden outsources its core business to a very large extent, whileinsisting on running its IT operations internally in a traditional way. IT as a service ingeneral and cloud computing in particular has become incredibly popular in recentyears, offering cost efficiency and greater ability for the business to concentrate on itscore activities, which is why it should be a promising alternative to the traditional wayof running IT internally. To achieve an understanding of why IT as a service has yetto take off in the public sector, a study of its use of IT/IS, what the effect of IT as aservice is, and the opportunities and challenges that cloud computing represents, isnecessary.The study, which was conducted using a qualitative hermeneutic approach, was initiatedby a literature review, followed by six in-depth interviews with five respondents,all of which hold many years of experience in the area. The outcome of the interviewsindicated that IT as a service should represent a promising and feasible way of reachinghigher levels of cost control, and a greater focus on core activities. Furthermore,the results indicated that Swedish legislation along with a high level of businesscomplexitymight be reasons for the low amount of IT as a service in the public sector.Through careful analysis and examination of the business? current situation, as well ascomprehensive knowledge of Swedish legislation with regards to the implications ofLagen om offentlig upphandling, the public sector can avoid IT as a service becomingmore expensive and more complicated than necessary, and achieve cost efficiencyalong with a greater focus on its core activities through it.Future research could examine the possibility of a framework for the integration ofcloud services within the public sector?s IT/IS environment, and whether there is aspecific size of a cloud implementation at which it?s more cost efficient to go withtraditional IT operations..

The interest for children´s clothing has increased in society. More and more children are born and parents are older when they have children. Education has become a natural feature in most people´s life, just as both parents often work today. The households have therefore better economy and thus greater consumption opportunities. Parents are, in greater extent, looking for personal and different clothing with focus on quality and, to some extent, exclusivity rather than just a cheap and functional garment.

Today the talk about global warming and climate change are on top of the public agenda. There for schools and schoolbooks also debate the issue of global warming. A newcomer on the school stage is the sponsored school materials that studies show to be a growing phenomenon. In a debate like that of global warming which is filled with uncertainties and so much political and economic interest, I find it interesting to study how these schoolbooks talk about the issue.In my study I have tried to analyze and compare how school materials for primary school discuss the phenomenon of global warming. I have compared two different types of schoolbooks.

Aim: The nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, raised global criticism against nuclear power. In Sweden, the criticism has not been very visible and the government now allows a renewal of the nuclear power plants. The purpose with the study is to have a closer look on how Swedes in position of power motivate their positive attitude to nuclear power and how they conduct themselves to each other and to their opponents. The rhetorical perspective will be in focus for the analysing.Method: Four different artifacts represented by Swedes in position of power having a positiveattitude to nuclear power were chosen. Three rhetorical theories (the rhetorical arena, stasis andethos, pathos and logos) were used with the research question in focus.Result & Conclusions: The analyses resulted in conclusions about the strategies used by the participants such as: the importance of contexts, meaning for example that the greenhouse effect legitimizes nuclear power as a source of energy with important benefits.

The purpose of the study was to find out whether the interaction between mentally disabled individuals and pet positively affects the individual and gives a feeling of well-being to the extent that this might be implicated in the psychologically disabled people?s everyday life in some form of rehabilitation measure. The study is qualitative and builds on an ethnographic design. Data collection was performed through six observations, six interviews and reflections. Interviews were also conducted with relatives and assistants for greater opportunity for follow-up questions, and descriptions of the situation.

AbstractEssay in political science, C-level, by Bo-Josef Eriksson, spring semester 2007Tutor: Susan Marton?Universal morality - does it exist? - A case study of small states foreign policy?The purpose of this essay is to examine how well does realism stand of against idealism when the focus of the study is on small states foreign policy? The essay takes it?s starting point at the debate between the two theories of international relations (IR). Realism is the theory that has had the most impact on the study of IR since the second world war. Idealism has been it?s greatest opponent and the debate is still active even up til this day.My case study of Danmarks foreign aid policy constitutes a worst critical case scenario for realism and therfore my assumptions were that idealism would be the theory that could explain the core-elements of the Danish foregin aid.

The new accounting standards IFRS and IAS was implemented in January 2005, the purpose was to harmonize accounting standards world wide. As a result of these new rules the real estate companies are allowed to appraise real estates assets at market value. It has long been debated whether this appraisal fulfils the requirements for relevance, reliability and comparability.The paper attends to how banks control the information given by the real estate companies in the process of credit granting. As an introduction we describe the purpose of accounting and the problematic´s about appraisals with market values. Further on there is a discussion on which factors are taken into consideration when banks grant credits.The study is built on interviews at three different commercial banks.

AbstractSpotify is currently the largest and fastest growing online music service. They started in 2006 and has since established itself in several European countries. Their financial revenue comes from advertising spots on the client and registered paid subscribers. Together with Spotify, we have come to a certain focus area where Spotify themselves feel that there is potential for improvement. This area of focus concerns the conversion from using Spotify's free "Open" to the payment options Unlimited and Premium.Objective: We will use an innovation process to achieve an innovation grant that will create more attraction to the payment services.

The aim of this Master thesis is to describe why and how public librariesuse the social networks Facebook and Twitter. The focus is to study whatbrought about their use, how the work is carried out, ideas and objectivesbehind the use and what libraries actually convey on the networks. Themethodology is twofold: semi-structured interviews with responsiblepersonnel at four Swedish public libraries, and an ethnographic contentanalysis of four months of the libraries' status updates and tweets onFacebook and Twitter. The theoretical framework consists of a model forthe roles of the public library in society, and of discourses about thepublic library in media.Results indicate that social networks are used to market, make accessibleand inform of the library's resources and services. Furthermore, networksare used to communicate/interact with followers and to inspire people toread.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the position of the preschool teacher could come across in interviews with six teachers about their assignment to document and evaluate the preschool activity. The research done so far in this area shows that it can be a complex and difficult part of the preschool teachers work. A dilemma often described is how the teachers can be able to analyze and document the children´s learning with the aim to evaluate and develop the preschool activity without judging and mapping the children. A special focus of the study was to see how the methods and dsicourses described by the teachers possibly could affect the teachers´s position in the area of documentation and evaluation. To analyze the empirical data Ernesto Laclau (1935-2014) & Chantal Mouffe´s discourse theory was used, a prespective witch also figured to be the theoretical foundation of the master thesis.

The main focus of this master?s thesis concerns the relation between subject representation, power and gender. Classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social context and some subjects and disciplines are given a greater value than others. Our aim in this thesis is twofold; to discuss and critically analyse the prevailing gender norms that are expressed trough classification systems and subject heading lists and to examine how they manage to represent gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject in theory as well as in practice. We are also discussing the particular problems with the representation of multidisciplinary subjects in general.

It is in a time of changes when the human being mainly seeks for its identity. In today?s globalized and internationalized society where people meet whom belongs to various religions, talks different languages and are carrying on different values and previous experiences. This has resulted in a multiculturalism and diversity in the "Swedish school". As a teacher and pupil in this school of multiculturalism you are daily faced by individuals that either you define yourself as or in relation to.The purpose of my study is for me to show how pupils with foreign background look on the multicultural school, and also how they create their identity in relation to the diversity offered by the school.

The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

In preparation for the autumn term in 2011, the Swedish elementary school adopted new syllabuses regarding, inter alia, the civic education (Sw. Samhällskunskap). The civic education has traditionally been a disciplinary subject with a main purpose of mediating democratic values as well as providing generalorientation in the society. Generally, the civic education intends to reflect the world in which people live in, being a complex society which to a large extent is regularly affected by global aspects and developments.      The purpose of this study is to review all the elementary school?s syllabuses relating to the civic education with specific focus on the globalisation perspective.

There is an old saying, that after Epaminondas nothing was ever the same again. In this thesis I will focus on three questions: "Epaminondas the man." Who was he? "Epaminondas the general." How did he change the technique of warfare that made it possible to beat the Spartans? "Epaminondas, founder of cities and wall-builder." How did he build the walls around the cities he initiated, that made them resist enemy attacks for many years to come?While seeking the answers to yhese questions I will make a contextual analysis to get the historical background to all the phenomina involved..