This study investigates the potential of a rhetorical theory of knowledge to expand beyond its own domain and into political theory, specifically theories of deliberative democracy. Despite the increasing interest in communication in democratic theory in the last decades, the majority of theorists have not turned their interest towards rhetorical science. On the contrary, theorists often regard rhetoric as dangerous and incompatible with the deliberative ideal of reason. The aim of this study is therefore to defend rhetorical science by investigating how the rhetorical theory of knowledge ? as it is presented by Chaïm Perelman and Oldbrecht Tyteca, and further developed by Mats Rosengren and Maria Wolrath Söderberg ? can contribute to the understanding of deliberative democracy.

Episodic gaming is a relatively new phenomenon, that hasn?t been as extensively explored as other areas in game research. In this paper we research how episodic narratives and gameplay engage players compared to regular continuous storytelling. By exploring this we get a better understanding of how to design games that captivate players to the point of them wanting to play the next episode.  A user study is conducted where ten players play two episodes each of an episodic game. We apply observations and interviews to capture a large amount of empirical data.

This paper is based on a study seeking answers to questions about how the judges at district courts look at mediation as a way to deal with custody and visitation disputes between parents who do not live together. The questions posed in this study are: When is a mediator appointed? What result do judges expect to mediation? What do the judges say about how a mediator should work? What are the judge?s opinions about the lawyer?s role in these cases? Finally, how do the judges define the children?s needs and how do the judges check that the solution is best for the child? The study also aims to compile theories of mediation, to create new knowledge and to possibly develop new research questions related to mediation. The study is a qualitative case study with law sociological and abductive approach. The interviewed judges all have a lot of experience in family law cases.

Obesity is a growing problem worldwide among children and adolescents. Previous research has shown that food habits and weight in order children with high and low risk of developing obesity (based on parental BMI) differs between the two groups. It has also been shown that the mother affects the child´s food habits and weight..

The increased media clutter requires of brand managers to be innovative and creative in their choices of marketing communications in order for brands to be salient in the minds of consumers. Recent studies emphasize incongruent marketing as a means of "standing out" from this competitive clutter and reaching existing and new potential customers. The aim of this thesis is to examine the effects of brand incongruent sponsorships (sponsorships which are incongruent with established brand associations) on consumer response to well-established brands from the perspective of high and low levels of loyalty. A quantitative survey was conducted and the results show that incongruent sponsorships improve brand attitude, brand interest and brand credibility, while not affecting ad attitude, purchase intention and word-of-mouth intention for customers of low loyalty. For highly loyal customers the findings were that brand attitude, brand interest, brand credibility, purchase intention and word-of-mouth intention remained unchanged while ad attitude decreased.

The wind power increase of Gotland as well as other parts of Sweden during the last ten year period has meant that this renewable energy source has increased its share over other fossil sources. The year of 2011 became the first when the wind power produced more energy than an average nuclear reactor. Now that wind power is in an expansive phase, the land issue will be of great interest. Land with good wind resources will be of interest to wind energy developers. The problems that this essay is based on are; how can landowners altering the economic conditions at a wind power establishment? What opportunities and obstacles exist for landowners who choose to set up wind power on their land? The purpose of this essay is to highlight the economic conditions that exist for landowners for the establishment of wind farms, with regard to compensation for the leasing and return on invested capital.

Today there is a shortage of skilled IT-technicians in Sweden. It is approximated that Swedish companies can hire 31 000 IT-technicians in 2015 and the need seems to increase in the coming years. One proposed solution to this problem is to make programming more desirable to youths. In this study we attempt to investigate the effects of an introductory course in computer science on youths? (16-17 years old) in a classroom setting.

This report is focused on a research to find out if the Customer Relation Management (CRM) of Quicknet AB works and if their customers are satisfied with it. During this investigation I tried to see if the customers had a need for taking the CRM and use a tool called Social CRM. The report will conclude if the clients of Quicknet think that there is something that can be done in the relation between both parts and how it can be improved. At the same time I am going to build an application which relates to the problems of this report.To solve the problem I am going to do a survey which will include the CRM and also try to find out if the customers of Quicknet share the same thoughts about having a Social Customer Relation Management. Also if this survey shows what the customers think about the CRM, it could improve the relation between Quicknet and themselves. The result from the survey showed two things.

The first official Islamic bank was established in 1975. The characteristic of an Islamic bank is that the bank is based on an interest free system. The interest free system is a requirement for an Islamic bank. The Islamic bank system is based on Sharia laws which are laws that are followed by Muslims and it is based on the text from the Quran. The Islamic Banks had a rapid expansion between 1993 and 2003, the expansion was about 23 percent and since 2003 have the expansion been about 20 percent.

Sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) is a common broadleaved species throughout Europe, however often of minor interest to the forest sector. There is currently a lack of research on sycamore maple, and some of its characteristics have throughout history contributed to a negative reputation in both literature and the forest society. Since broadleaved species in general are of great importance to the forest sector in Europe and presumably of enhanced significance in the future, deepened research is needed and particularly Swedish. With a desire to hopefully increase the interest for sycamore maple, was the objective of the study to examine the current status of the sycamore stands in southern Sweden. The study was carried out both as a survey with inventory field work and as a literature study. Parts of the latter mentioned is also presented in the introduction. The study shows that the majority of the sycamore stands in Sweden are growing well, producing fairly high qualities and volumes.

It has become popular for political scientists to discuss the transformation from government to governance and the networks? greater influence on public policymaking. However, this debate lacks methodological, empirical and theoretical research about the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy. The main objective of this essay is to understand the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy through a case study of the governance network Leader Linné. The theoretical framework includes four analysis models about the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy that are analysed by five factors connected to representative democracy.

Swedish childcare has undergone radical changes in the last 15 to 20 years. It has evolved from kindergarten to pre-school, in other words, gone from simple childcare to an active learning environment with the child as the center. Official documents, such as the pre-school curriculum and other guide documents, define the role and work ethics of the pre-school teacher. In my thesis I argue that it is essential to have an ongoing and continuous discussion at pre-schools on the practical applications of these frameworks and ambitious goals.What do you do when you simply cannot give every child the individual time they should have according to rules and regulations? How do you stay an active and present pedagogue in today?s pre-school with large classes and heavy workloads? How do you establish a common professional work ethics within a pre-school so that all children are treated equally? In my scientific essay, I examine these issues based on a real-life situation: Ellen in the hallway.A pedagogue must continuously make balanced decisions based on rules and regulations, on life- and work experience which, in many cases, contradict each other.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study if teenage fiction, published in Swedish during the course of one year, matches what boys in eight grade claim they want to read about. The background for our work is a survey initiated by Lärarnas Riksförbund, Läsa för att lära, in 2005. The conclusion drawn in Läsa för att lära is that many children, especially boys, lose their interest in reading when they become teenagers. Information on fictional books for teenagers has been collected from Bibliotekstjänst.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the authors of Matthew and Luke describe Joseph; The main aim is to see how the picture of him is drawn in the infancy narratives of their respectiveGospels; what unites, and what distinguishes the pictures of the two evangelists' account of Joseph,as a character and as a father.With the help of both textual and grammatical criticism, this study investigates - pericope bypericope - different aspects of Joseph's participation in the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke; his relationship to the child and the mother, the terms used to describe him, and his overall modusoperandi. This essay builds its structure upon the individual study of each pericope, with the aim of painting a general and summarized picture.From the outset of already formulated uniting characteristics of the two gospels, as stated in Raymond E Brown's The Birth of the Messiah this study proposes that more can be said about the common features of Matthew and Luke, especially concerning Joseph's both character and relationto the child. First, this study suggests that both Matthew and Luke describe Joseph as the legal father of Jesus; second, both evangelists seems to describe Joseph as observant of Jewish law andcustom.The main impression of the two evangelists' birth narratives is however the differencesconcerning the description of Joseph. This study shows that there is one major common feature: the ambivalence evident in the evangelists' way of describing Joseph. On the one hand, both Matthew and Luke prescribe Joseph some importance; Matthew by describing Joseph and letting him act,Luke by calling him father and parent.

Today there is a shortage of skilled IT-technicians in Sweden. It is approximated that Swedish companies can hire 31 000 IT-technicians in 2015 and the need seems to increase in the coming years. One proposed solution to this problem is to make programming more desirable to youths. In this study we attempt to investigate the effects of an introductory course in computer science on youths? (16-17 years old) in a classroom setting.