Research within gender and leadership has often focused on leaders in male dominated work areas, but quite recently interest has arise for examine leadership in female dominated work areas. This thesis analyzes possible differences connected to theories about gender stereotypes that may exist among male and female leaders within a female dominated organization. Further, possible underlying reasons to why or why not differences between genders might be found are investigated. The research question is addressed through a single embedded case study design at the Swedish public organization Försäkringskassan. The primary focus is middle managers, and twenty qualitative interviews were conducted with leaders and co-workers at two local offices and at the organizations headquarter.

The aim of this study is to describe how nature is portrayed in swedish poet and critic Aase Berg?s two earliest poetry collections, Hos rådjur (1997) and Mörk materia (1999), and how it relates to notions of humanity, culture and civilisation. The concept of ?nature? is problematized in a short survey of how it has been used by and critizised in ecocritical literary theory, which is used as the main theoretical framework for this survey, with an emphasis on selected theoretical concepts by Donna Haraway. As a methodological starting point, ?nature? is tentatively defined as ?that which does not let itself be subsumed under the human, culture or civilisation?, and this definition is contrasted with how the concepts are handled in the texts.The investigation shows that the relationship of nature to the human is a fundamental theme that provides a structure for both poetry collections.

Stock lending is primarily a professional activity. The supply of stocks in the lending market comes mainly from pension funds and insurance companies, while intermediaries provide valuable services by taking positions as borrowers as well as lenders. Borrowers use stock lending for various reasons. For instance, hedge funds usually borrow stocks to cover a short position. There has been a lot of controversy in the stock lending industry and the debate has mainly concerned its effects for the stock markets.

Stock lending is primarily a professional activity. The supply of stocks in the lending market comes mainly from pension funds and insurance companies, while intermediaries provide valuable services by taking positions as borrowers as well as lenders. Borrowers use stock lending for various reasons. For instance, hedge funds usually borrow stocks to cover a short position. There has been a lot of controversy in the stock lending industry and the debate has mainly concerned its effects for the stock markets.

This thesis discuss the matter of non-profit-making associations as a self regulatory technique out of a theoretical concept of power. The object for the study is the non-profit-making association Ditt Nya Hageby, which work in the neigborhood of Hageby, a suburb to Norrköping. In the study the association is placed in a contemporary postmodern social context and analyzed through semi- structured qualitative interviews, accordingly to hermeneutical method, with five active members of the association as informants. The association consists of members who lives in the neighborhood. Together with a hired organizer they realizes their own ideas in to projects which unquestionably improves the social and physical enviroment in Hageby.

Mainly focusing on the big picture regarding the research concerning the religious sphere in Bronze Age Scandinavia, the research field has been missing out on the smaller picture. The results have a tendency to produce a picture where the big landscape monuments, social structures and cosmology appear in the foreground. This essay is a comment to this phenomena and a methodological and terminological discussion regarding the way in which we as archaeologist?s works with questions about religion and rites. The main task though is to make an attempt in trying to identify the ritual performers and to answer the question whether it's possible or not to do that.

AbstractThis thesis analyzes the Russian Foreign Policy Doctrine from a broad theoretical perspective, with the aim of describing and explaining the doctrine using a number of theoretical approaches. Russia's foreign policy has undergone substantial changes since Vladimir Putin became president in the year 2000, involving a radical shift in foreign policy objectives and thereby moving away from the more confrontational and distrusting policies which characterized the Boris Jeltsin regime. Putins doctrine, based on pragmatism and seeking partnership and collaboration with the West, can be described as a near revolutionary re-orientation of Russia's foreign policy guidelines, meaning a transformation of the country's self image which implies a rejection of great power status and a search for a new role in the international community.Our thesis has examined explanatory variables such as the domestic political situation in Russia, the contemporary international system and President Vladimir Putins system of beliefs in order to describe and explain the doctrine. Our results show that the doctrine is largely a product of Putins personality, values and beliefs, but also to a large extent a consequence of necessities, namely the poor Russian economy and the fact that the country no longer can withstand an all out conflict with the West involving an excessive arms race.Keywords: Vladimir Putin, pragmatism, realism, domestic politics, radical change..

In this essay we have examined how social workers experience their positions as a public authority person in a society of democracy. As a public officer you have to follow rules and obey the law, which can be difficult if they don't agree with your personal opinion and values. In social work you work with people in a vulnerable situation and it may become extremely demanding to stand between the directions of established public administration and your own opinions. We have interviewed ten social workers working in social childcare division and analysed how they experience their situation at work. Our starting point is the critical theory of professor Lennart Lundquist about how democracy works in Swedish administrations.

Fieldstudys on 22 farms (23 silos) to study relationships between the actual particle size of the maize silage and the theoretical length of cut. The measure of theoretical length of cut were stated by the farmers and not measured by us. Particle size of maize silage was determined using the New Penn State Forage Particle Separator. SLU Skara made a special sieve for us, that had larger holes than de original sieves. The samples were shaken after instructions and then the material was weighted. We have also been taking out samples for microbiological analyses from the silos on 13 of the farms.

AbstractOutsourcing is a business strategy that has developed over the last 40 years. Outsourcing means to let another company do some activity within the company, for example production.The thesis for this paper is: How is outsourcing used in a manufacturing company today and how is the resource efficiency affected by it? The research is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and an empirical part. The theoretical part consists of a study of literature. The works in this study is books, text books, bachelor thesis paper and scientific articles.

The surface finishing technique called black oxidation is currently being used on thetool holders made of low alloyed tool steel produced by Sandvik Coromant. Blackoxidation isn?t considered a sufficient technique because it doesn?t make the toolholders look like the quality products that they actually are. The reasoning behind thisis that the tool holders can show signs of corrosion after prolonged storing times orin countries with high humidity and temperature. The corrosion doesn?t decrease thetool holders performance, but the customers might believe otherwise.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att göra en jämförande studie mellan faktorerna som enligt en teoretisk ram påverkar en miljöinvestering och faktorerna som ingår i ett företags bedömnings-modell. Respondentbolaget begärde i ett tidigt skede att få vara anonymt och benämns därför som Företaget. Det är en multinationell koncern med verksamhet i många skilda branscher, men med fokus på norden och produkter som kan kopplas till lantbruk. Den teoretiska referensramen har sin utgångspunkt i begreppen värde och investering samt hur deras koppling till miljö och miljöinvesteringar för att identifiera de faktorer som påverkar en miljöinvestering. Faktorerna som ingår i den teoretiska referensramen och som jämförs mot respondentbolagets faktorer är:? Investeringens värdetillförsel? Investeringens miljöpåverkan? Hur investeringen påverkar produktionsförutsättningarna? Krav från samhället? KundkravKopplingen däremellan bedöms enligt en femgradig skala.

This study was based on a quantitative method to examine gender-related attitudes towards leadership styles among employees in trade union organizations in Sweden. The aim of the research was to investigate and understand how gender relates to attitudes regarding leadership within these organizations. The study was based on research questions related to preferences for different leadership styles and the impact of gender on these attitudes. The study incorporated previous research and relevant theoretical frameworks such as leadership theories, gender theories, and theories on prejudice against female leaders to contextualize our findings. Data were collected through a survey using a convenience sampling method, targeting employees of trade union organizations in Sweden.

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.

AbstractC-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008Supervisor: Susan Marton?Good contracting? ? A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children?Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ?shopping basket? from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting.