This is a thesis project in the field of information technology which begins by evaluating existing food price comparison systems and subsequently aims to design an improved, web based system for said purpose. The system features interfaces for price reporting, price comparisons as well as various search and review functions. The objective is to create a system able to compete with existing price comparison systems, which requires careful selection of products that can be found in all foodstores that also represent different households; a user-friendly price reporting and price comparison interface and an efficient tool for ensuring the validity of reported prices.The designed system features a more accurate formula for calculating average prices in events where the real price is missing; a more reliable security mechanism forv alidation of reported prices and a more comprehensible interface for viewing price reports, reporting prices, reviewing stores and products in comparison with existing systems. The system does, however, suffer from some optimization issues primarily in the form of inefficient database modeling; SQL queries and JavaScript code although testing has shown that these shortcomings do not hamper overall performance to such a degree that usability is compromised. Further usability testing performed on the system with five test subjects shows that a high level of overall user-friendliness has been achieved even though some special features, such as the detailed report containing price information per product for each store need to be improved.It is not possible to say at this time whether or not the designed system will be able to compete with existing ones or if the very concept of food price comparisons per se is viable in terms of profitability and marketability.

The impact of computer programs in safety-critical systems has increased in the past decades and computer-based systems can now be found in a wide range of applications. A new approach for developing dependable systems is documenting all design rationale that affects safety using Intent Specifications. A recent approach for developing complex systems efficiently and in an upgradeable manner is Component-Based System Engineering. In this thesis, these approaches are combined in the development and upgrade of a Remote Robot Control Unit by using the tool SpecTRM. The case study showed that Intent Specifications and CBSE could successfully be combined.

En bit in på det nya millenniet har Asien blivit världens handelscentrum när det gäller produktion av textil. Inte minst modeföretag i Skandinavien förlägger sin produktion i områden där utbildningsnivån är låg och där fabriksarbetarnas rättigheter förbises i jakten på dem lägsta priserna. Till de konsekvenser som de nya uppmärksammade globala marknadsvillkoren innebär, räknas konsumenternas intresse för fabriksarbetarnas rättigheter. Kundernas ökade krav och påtryckningar om att modeföretag ska ta socialt ansvar har varit och är en pådrivande kraft för textilföretagens sociala ansvarstagande, ett ansvarstagande mest känt under förkortningen ?CSR?.

Media brings attention to the concept of preschools being in large need of more male teachers. In order to implement an increase of male teachers, various methods have been employed, most of which are based on the concepts of gender and equality. In question however, are the views of present teachers on the need for male teachers, and their expectations of those men! Or in other terms: What particular type of men are requested? And how does this correspond with the gender patterns induced by male teachers in their daily practical work? The purpose of this survey is to analyze expectations of male teachers and their role in the preschool context, through a gender perspective. I want to shed light on this purpose based on two questions: What ?kind? of men are requested by the present teachers? and Which gender patterns will the men induce to their daily work chores, and to their interaction with the children? The survey was conducted by means of interviews, polls, and observations, and the results were obtained from two preschools of which one in particular has extended focus on gender issues.

During a major part of modernity the concept of identity was something that in many ways was predetermined for the individual. People in general remained in the same social spheres as the generations before, shared common religions and beliefs and where more or less bound to a geographic area. Identity and lifestyle was something that was adapted quite unreflected from habit and tradition. Though, during the cultural modernisation process that took place in the twentieth century, previous shared patterns of interpretation vanished and became individual.  Finding references, constructing an identity and establishing a self became individual.

This master thesis encompasses an inventory and risk classification of four disused landfills within the municipality of Uppsala, Sweden. The model of the classification; ?Method of Surveying Contaminated Sites? is developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and can be used as a framework to investigate and describe the environmental damage and the level of risk for each object. The risk classification model has a rating from 1 to 4, where 1 represents a very high risk while 4 is a small risk. Risk class depends largely on the type of land use that exists on the object, and hence, various benchmarks must be taken into account.

The thesis will discuss the interpretations of the two requisites; Control and improper means in the paragraph concerning trafficking in human beings, who can be find in the Swedish penal code chapter 4, section. 1 a. This paragraph is worded in a way that indicates that the paragraph is misinterpreted and that it is therefore hard to proof that the present requisites have been used or fulfilled. However, Sweden has by accepting international legal framework committed itself to do anything in its power to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. The interpretation of the paragraph has shown that the difficulties have mainly depended of its indistinct formula.A new review published in April 2008 shows that the paragraph should be afforded a new wording, and therefore contain new requisites.

Umeå University currently uses two Course Management System, Moodle and Sakai (Cambro). Both Moodle and Sakai are based on open source code and are today the two more popular choices among Swedish Universities. They both have different strengths and weaknesses both from a technical perspective and a user perspective. This can create problems for a course responsible/teacher when it comes to planning the course structure at a distance course but also when planning the course structure on a campus course that uses a Course Management System. With this as my starting point my formulations of questions become:How do the Course Management Systems that Umeå University uses differs, both from a technical perspective and user perspective?What possibilities is there in the Course Management Systems to use a different Course Structure?Is there a noticeable difference on the view of Course Management System of teachers and students at different departments?The purpose with my essay is to create a basis that course responsible/teacher can use to plan the course structure.

Avsikten med studien är att undersöka relationen mellan valberedning, ägare och styrelse samt utifrån detta studera vilken roll valberedningen har, enligt den Svenska Koden.Vi har utgått ifrån en deduktiv ansats, där vi både har genomfört en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ undersökning. Den kvalitativa studien baseras på djupintervjuer av ledamöter i svenska börsnoterade företag, medan den kvantitativa undersökningen resulterar i en statistisk undersökning, som utgår från bolagsstyrningsrapporter i årsredovisningar från 2006.I det teoretiska perspektivet tas den Svenska Koden för bolagsstyrning upp som utgångspunkt och kompletteras med Aktiebolagsslagen (ABL), agentteorin, intressentmodellen, coporate governance, CSR-modellen samt ett genusperspektiv.I empirin redovisas respondenternas yttranden samt den statistiska undersökningen.Vi har med hjälp av empiri och analys kommit fram till ett antal slutsatser; valberedningen har endast en uppgift, vilken är att ta fram förslag om nya ledamöter till styrelsen. Förslagen ska leda till att styrelsen får en så bra sammansättning som möjligt. Valberedningen har till viss del ökat förtroendet för bolagen, genom att processen blivit tydligare samt mer transparant. Vår undersökning visar att nästan samtliga företag som är noterade på Stockholmsbörsens LargeCap-lista, använder sig av en valberedning, vilket vi ser som ett bra tecken.

The new cataloging code Resource Description and Access (RDA) provides a system of instructions for recording relationships between related resources by means of a controlled vocabulary of relationship designators. The purpose of this two years master?s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies is to examine the construction of this system, as well as its theoretical foundation. One theoretical point of departure is the necessity of operational definitions for consistent identification of bibliographic relationships. Another such point of departure is that the theoretical model on which RDA is based (the FRBR model) is not a complete description of the biblio­graphic universe, but merely a limited representation of a set of assumptions about that universe.The thesis first examines Barbara B.

Background: The global responsibility for multinational companies is a current matter of subject. Now when the world increasingly is getting globalized, economic growth is created, which brings a bigger demand of responsibility on companies. The leading companies from every industry is often becoming the frame for how the production process works and is therefore exposed to outer pressure which, for example, is coming from consumers and the media. Since consumers at present are more aware of what they are buying and where it comes from, it is important that the companies take social responsibility. We have therefore studied three big companies within the clothing industry to see in witch way they are taking their social responsibility.Purpose: Our purpose was to explore how companies within the clothing industry describe their work with Corporate Social Responsibility, code of conducts and where the incentive behind this work is coming from.Method: We have, through a qualitative study, examined how three large companies work with Corporate Social Responsibility.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the legal protection against sexual harassment at work functions, and where to draw the line. The study is limited to focus on the sexual harassment directed at women from men, because it usually occurs that way even though only a few report the incidents. The results are discussed from a gender perspective on how the distribution of power is between men and women as a way to explain sexual harassment.Sexual harassment is currently protected by the discrimination law and the EU principle of equal treatment for men and women. For a behavior to be considered as sexual harassment it has to be unwanted by the receiving party and the person practicing the harassments must be aware that the behavior is perceived as offensive. The behavior shall be of a sexual nature and contribute to a disadvantage for the victim in the form of a violation of that persons integrity.It is the victim that determines whether the behavior is perceived as sexual harassment or not, what one person believes is a friendly behavior may be perceived as offensive by another.

The development of software was considered until the beginning of the 1990th as a cathedral like product development in closed companies. This way of development changed in the last decade. Open source software (OSS) development challenged this consideration significantly. OSS is produced in co-operation by skilled people, distributed and used by many moral agents. The result, the software itself, can be studied and modified.

Senaste åren har det uppdagats flertalet bolagsskandaler världen över, där de i vissa fall kan relateras till en bristande intern kontroll. Detta har föranlett att marknaden och aktieägarna tappat förtroendet för den finansiella rapporteringen. Åtgärder genom en tydligare lagstiftning har vidtagits för revisionsarbete i syfte att säkerställa företagens interna kontroll och därmed öka förtroendet hos intressenterna. Regelverken, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, The Combined Code och Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning tangerar alla området bolagsstyrning och därigenom även det interna kontrollsystemet. De nämnda regelverken har en gemensam nämnare, det vill säga införlivandet av revisionsutskott i organisationerna för att kvalitetssäkra den interna kontrollen.

Vid tidigare forskning inom redovisningsområdet har det framkommit att individers (ekonomers) bedömningsförmåga påverkas av effektivitetsmotiverat resonerande. Det innebär att personen ifråga gör en mental avvägning mellan att utföra arbetet för att uppnå bästa effekt eller på det effektivaste sättet under press. Bedömningsförmågan påverkas i negativ men även i positiv riktning av olika faktorer. Tidspress har visat sig ha negativ inverkan. Detta resulterar i att personens bedömning, exempelvis i en granskningssituation kan vara genomförd på ett snabbt och tillräckligt sätt enligt gällande regler, men inte nödvändigtvis vara utförd på bästa sättet.