The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine the relationship between fiction and resistance from a postcolonial and feminist perspective. More specifically, the study is an examination of this relationship in ten novels by the Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta. The resistance is studied by examining the way it is depicted in the texts, as well as whether the texts can be seen as a form of opposition. Both the resistance and its context are studied.

This study is performed as an Archive, Library and museum master?s thesis in two years studies. The overall aim is to investigate and analyze what the term Manga means in a library and information science context. The concept of Manga has different meanings depending on whether we start from a Japanese or a Swedish context. Manga is integrated in the Japanese society while Manga often is associated with youth culture or a separate genre in Sweden.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the opinion about school libraries among principals at the independent schools in the municipality of Lund. In order to fulfil my purpose I used a qualitative method with an introductory questionnaire, which gave background material to the interviews. All seven principals answered the questionnaire and five of them agreed to participate in an interview. Another two interviews were made with two informants, this material was included in the background material. As theoretical framework I have used literature about the school library development, the role of the principal for development and David V.

This master?s thesis was performed at PartnerTech AB in Åtvidaberg. It addresses the problem of managing test results obtained from testing electronics manufactured by PartnerTech. PartnerTech has developed a test system, called Tor, which performs tests on manufactured boards and stores the test results in files. The Tor system consists of both hardware and software part, where the software runs on an ordinary PC with MS DOS/Windows 2000.

The aim of this master's thesis is to present an introduction to semiological analysis of web based material, which is a hypothesis that combines the theoretical framework of classical Saussurean semiology, visual social semiotics as was developed by Günther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, and Roland Barthes's notion of 'Myths'. Furthermore, a new tool called 'pseudo-signifier', constructed solely for the thesis, is also used in conjunction with the semiological analysis. The hypothesis is tested in a case study involving the web portal of a Swedish commune, Gothenburg (goteborg.se). A complete semiological analysis is performed on the case. The case study revealed numerous findings of interest, among others that images and texts on the web portal were sometimes used in a contradicting manner, and often in a way that symbollically excluded citizens from the portal, a fact which could be uncovered when studying underlying myths that permeated the web portal.

The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate the performance of the content-based image retrieval system ImBrowse from a semantic point of view. Evaluation of retrieval performance is a problem in content-based image retrieval (CBIR). There are many different methods for measuring the performance of content-based image retrieval systems, but no common way for performing the evaluation. The main focus is on image retrieval regarding the extraction of the visual features in the image, from three semantic levels. The thesis tries to elucidate the semantic gap, which is the problem when the systems extraction of the visual features from the image and the user?s interpretation of that same information do not correspond.

The high level of energy consumption that the industrialised countries have reached and thepollution that this brings has long been a cause for analysis and debate, development and usageof so called renewable energy sources is therefore more important than ever. The energy in theelectromagnetic radiation from the sun is an interesting alternative. One way of harvesting thisenergy is by using solar cells, devices that generate DC current when exposed to electromagneticradiation.The goal of this master?s thesis was to design a solar powered power supply to Syntronic AB?sMidrange platform. The envisioned application is a stand-alone distributed embedded system,for example a node-based temperature monitoring system.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine what effect two different models of acquisition have on user satisfaction with information resources at academic libraries. The two models examined are the traditional model where a subject specialist librarian makes the selection, and the user-governed model where the larger part of the selection is based on user requests. The scope is the libraries of Roskilde University, which employs the traditional acquisition model and Malmö University, which employs the user-governed. Both libraries have a user-oriented approach to acquisition. The study encompasses a close examination of the acquisition policy through document analysis and interviews with the librarians in charge of acquisitions at each university, as well as a user-satisfaction survey among the professors and senior teachers on two faculties at each university respectively.

Fem Nyckelord: Förstalinjechef, förväntningar, utfall, tjänsteföretag, varuproducerande företag. Syfte: Att öka kunskapen om skillnaden mellan förstalinjechefens förväntningar inför den första chefspositionen och vad verkligheten sedan visar sig kräva. Vidare vill vi få nya perspektiv på ämnet, se det från en ny synvinkel samt öka kunskapen kring ett område som vi anser saknar tillfredsställande forskning.Metod: Vi har uteslutande använt oss av kvalitativ insamlingsmetod med hjälp av djupintervjuer. Vi har en hermeneutisk ansats och har strävat efter att uppnå en närhet till respondenterna under intervjuerna.Teoretiska Perspektiv: Den teorin vi främst använt oss av är Linda Hills bok; ?Becoming a Manager - How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership?.

This one-year master's thesis investigates the late part of the Middle Neolithic on the island of Gotland. This thesis has been written without the influence of a singular theoretical pespective, and has therefore seen input from the processual, and postprocessual theories. By using several perspectives, an attempt is made to view the material remains used in the most objective manner possible. The specific aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the Mid-Neolithic inhabitants of Gotland were a part of the Corded Ware culture (or as it is called in Sweden, the Battleaxe culture or the Boataxe culture). Most recent literature has concluded that Gotland was never a part of the Battlexe culture, though this thesis has discovered many parallels with the mainland culture, including the production of similar objects and ritual practices.

This master thesis work was done by two students at Machine Design at KTH for Lesjöfors Stockholmsfjäder AB. The task was to develop a calculation program for gas springs. The program is going to ease the selection of gas springs for a given case of a lid that should be opened. The program is going to be used internal by sales people at Lesjöfors AB in Sweden and internationally. The program is therefore written in English.The program was developed in Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition.

This master?s degree project concerns the combination of a multi dwelling passive house with solar energy for the generation of electricity and domestic hot water (DHW). Different alternatives with either solar thermal systems or photovoltaic (PV) systems are compared with two reference alternatives producing DHW from electricity or district heating. The economical comparison uses a life cycle cost (LCC) perspective based on the present value of expenditures for investment, energy and annual operating and maintenance.The energy yields from the solar energy systems were calculated by hand and with simulation software. Calculation and dimensioning of PV systems were carried out with a software called PVSYST.

This master?s thesis investigates how six Swedish public libraries integrate equality aspects in their user oriented activity. The theoretical starting point for the study is that Sweden is a part of a gender system characterized by gender separation and male superiority, as described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman and theories that argue that femininity and masculinity are social constructions. Another starting point is that the library sphere cannot be separated from the gender inequality in society. Since the library is part of a gender system that value individuals who are seen as males and separates men and women, some of the library users may be neglected.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study howuniversity librarians in a South African context relate to theconcept of information literacy. We investigated differencesand similarities in approaches to user education andinformation literacy. We have based our study on thefollowing research questions: What are the prerequisites foruser education at the University of the Western Cape? Howdo these prerequisites influence librarians' approaches toinformation literacy and user education at the University ofthe Western Cape? We have used a sociocultural theoreticalperspective and Hofstede's cultural dimensions in orderto pay particular attention to the cultural and social contextof user education.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate international students? views regarding information seeking and use of information sources. A further aim is also to investigate the possible factors influencing information seeking in relation to everyday life for international students. Interviews were carried out with eight international students, 20-35 years old from three continents. They were to stay in Sweden for at least five months for the purpose of studying.