The aim of this master thesis is to find out if young people and librarians think that reference groups can support public libraries to meet the needs of young people, and if the reference groups, which the librarians describe, differentiates from the young peoples requirements. I have made a qualitative study with a questionnaire to six librarians who have experience from reference groups and ten interviews with teenagers. The result showed that young people have many interests and needs which can be met from the library. The teenagers were positive to the library and many of them showed interest in having more influence on the library. Many would like to join a reference group, but on the condition that they would be offered real influence.

Latvia has been an independent state twice, the first time during the years 1918-1940 and the second time from the year 1991 and ahead. During these two periods Latvia has been a destination for tourists. The aim of this study is to describe how Latvia as a destination has developed during the years of independence. One further aim is to compare what Latvia?s tourism industry looked like during the same periods to descry similarities and differences.

This essay concerns PR-consultants and their view on their work. The purpose was to find out which type of communication they use in contact with the target. By target, we mean the group of people the employer wants to reach with help of the PR-consultant. For example: Jägarförbundet wants to get help from a PR-consultant to influence someone in the government so that Swedish hunters can shoot more wolves, than the target group is the one in the government. We also wanted to find out if the PR-consultants are aware of the image the public have of them and if they are trying to change it into a more positive one, by using more ethics, openness and to have more focus on the relations aspect.  PR in the future with new social media (like Internet) was also a subject, where we wanted to know how much they involve social media in their work.  Our main questions were:How do PR-consultants relate to openness in communication, ethics and social media?Which one of Grunig?s PR-models is most occuring in the PR-consultants work? We made a qualitative study where we carried out interviews with six PR-consultants.

The focus of this essay is set on a number of processes that affect the challenges of the tourist trade, to be more precise ? an analysis of the attitudes towards tourism and sustainability within this line of business ? from an ethical and moral as well as social view. These issues are examined with reference to the concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Thus, acquaintance with theories of social constructivism, post colonialism, globalisation and global civil society is essential in order to understand the analysed material. The essay is mainly based on the outcome of qualitative interviews with various kinds of persons working with CSR related questions.

AbstractThis report has been developed in cooperation with Peab Region Bostad Göteborg, mentor at Krook& Tjäder (through Chalmers), and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology. The report is the result of a research of a building project, constructed by Peab. The report is investigating and it means to identify and evaluate qualities in the dwelling and its surroundings. Its purpose is to evaluate how the residents in a chosen housing cooperative enjoy living there. It shall, with help of chosen quality aspects, identify what expectations the residents had before moving in, how they experience the dwelling and its surroundings today, and what hopes they have for the future planning of the area.

AbstractTitle: Transparency within Public Relations ? A study about PR-companies understanding of opennessPages: 71Authors: Olof EhrsTutor: Virginia MeliánCourse: Media and Communication Studies, Bachelor Degree.Period: Autumn 2011.University: The Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, JMK,at Stockholm University.Background and aim: The PR-industry is continuing to grow in Sweden. The increase of working consultancies has made it more difficult to define what PR-activities really are in Sweden today. This exam reviews the presence and lack of transparency within the PR labour. The aim of the essay is to inspect the PR-companies relation to transparency and non-transparency.

In Sweden the work of reducing acidification and its prime cause; emission and deposition of sulphur dioxide, has been going on for decades. Despite of all the work that has been done the positive progress in the acidified areas is slow. This is partly due to a long recovery time for the acidified areas but also because the reductions of emission and deposition of sulphur dioxide have not been large enough. Emissions of sulphur dioxide from land based source in Sweden are estimated to 34 000 tons in the year of 2010. During the same year, approximately 182 000 tons of sulphur dioxide will be deposited over the Swedish territory.

A growing need to strengthen ones position on the market, even as a city in competition with other cities, has resulted in an increasing number of municipalities developing brand platforms. When the city of Umeå developed their platform, they identified decision makers and investors as one of four important target groups.The aim of this study is to explore the portrayed image of the city of Umeå in two Swedish trade journals which addresses the specific target group decition makers and investors in both public and private sector. The aim is also to compare the image of Umeå in the two papers, to the ambition of the municipality, expressed in the brand platform.In order to make the observations as firmly established as possible, the method of the study is a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text analysis. The study draws on the theories of Eli Avraham and Philip Kotler, concerning how to improve city images and how to market a specific city among others. The study shows that the city of Umeå in large extent is portrayed in accordance to the ambition which the municipality expressed in the brand platform.Umeå is displayed as an expanding city.

Many jobs in rural areas have historically been linked to the agricultural sector. The restructuring that has been implemented in agriculture has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of jobs in rural areas. A consequence of this is that many people have moved to cities to earn a living. To maintain a living countryside in Sweden, it is therefore essential to create alternative livehoods in rural areas. An industry that can have a major impact in the future is rural tourism.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka fenomenet shoppingturism. Skribenterna valde att utifrån sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer kartlägga de faktorer som bidrar till att resenärer åker på en shoppingresa. Därutöver undersökte skribenterna även om shoppingturism kan kopplas samman med upplevelseturism samt om respondenterna anser att shoppingresandet kan ha någon påverkan på en destination. Metoden som skribenterna har använt sig av är en kvalitativ intervjustudie där intervjumanualen var halvstrukturerad. För att tolka de resultat som framkommit under samtliga intervjuer har skribenterna använt sig av tidigare forskning samt diverse teoretiska analysverktyg.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att formulera en utvecklingsstrategi för Piteå med målet att bli en framgångsrik skridskodestination. Frågeställningen blir således, hur kan Piteå bli en framgångsrik skridskodestination? Vi använde oss av en kvalitativ metod och för att samla material så utförde vi fem stycken intervjuer och bearbetade relevant litteratur kring destinationsutveckling. Vi arbetade efter en abduktiv ansats som står för en arbetsprocess som går från verklighet till teori, till verklighet och till teori igen genom att pröva formulerade teorier i verkligheten. Resultatet analyserades med förförståelse kring upplevelseproduktion och -ekonomi och vi kom fram till slutsatsen att en utvecklingsstrategi för att utveckla Piteå som skridskodestination bör innehålla arbetssätt för att; ?Arbeta med destinationsutvecklingen på en kommunal nivå ?Utföra- och tillämpa en riskanalys och en beredskapsplan ?Bibehålla en ekonomiskt, social och miljömässigt hållbar destination ?Skapa en image för Piteå som vinterdestination ?Erbjuda evenemang av god upplevelsekvalitet Vi har kommit fram till att Piteå har stora möjligheter att bli en framgångsrik skridskodestination, för att åstadkomma detta krävs det att lokalbefolkning, kommun och näringsliv samverkar inom destinationen Piteå mot ett gemensamt mål.

A growing need to strengthen ones position on the market, even as a city in competition with other cities, has resulted in an increasing number of municipalities developing brand platforms. When the city of Umeå developed their platform, they identified decision makers and investors as one of four important target groups.The aim of this study is to explore the portrayed image of the city of Umeå in two Swedish trade journals which addresses the specific target group decition makers and investors in both public and private sector. The aim is also to compare the image of Umeå in the two papers, to the ambition of the municipality, expressed in the brand platform.In order to make the observations as firmly established as possible, the method of the study is a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text analysis. The study draws on the theories of Eli Avraham and Philip Kotler, concerning how to improve city images and how to market a specific city among others. The study shows that the city of Umeå in large extent is portrayed in accordance to the ambition which the municipality expressed in the brand platform.Umeå is displayed as an expanding city.

This study investigated whether in-situ audiometry, delivered via hearing aids, is a better option as a basis forprescribing hearing aid amplification, compared to conventional audiometry. By examining the real ear insertgain (REIG) in 29 ears (18 subjects), that had been fitted with a hearing aid programmed using both conventionalaudiometry and in-situ audiometry, the study looked at whether in-situ audiometry based prescription is closer tothe NAL NL1's fitting target than audiogram based prescription. The hearing aid Siemens Pure 7mi with speakerunit M was used on all participants. The results showed how in-situ audiometry based gain at certain frequenciesis more consistent with the target curve, especially at 1000, 1500, 2000 and 4000 Hz. It was not establishedwhether the findings of the study were statistically significant.

The purpose of this examination was to se how exercise affects the learning capacity. In this work I have chosen to integrate natural science with sport and the target group was a primary department. The two areas I integrate with sports were: the digestive system and knowledge of deciduous trees. I split the class in two different groups. One group got to have a theoretical lesson and the other one got to have an exercise lesson.

The system tungsten-oxygen has potential of being suitable for decorative coatings since ceramic coatings are often hard and wear resistant, and since modulations in oxygen content or incorporation of small ions could give bright colours. The aim of this report was to investigate the relationship between process parameters and  the properties of the films, with the wear resistance being of special interest.Samples with tungsten to oxygen ratios in the range of 100:0 to 25:75 at% were made using reactive sputter deposition, either with constant gas flow, or gas flow controlled by optical emission of the plasma. The hysteresis of the system, which means that a certain gas flow will cause different pressure and/or target voltage depending on in what way the flow is reached, makes it interesting to control the process where the system makes the steep change from metallic tungsten to ceramic tungsten oxide. This is difficult and thus requires precise control equipment.The samples were analysed using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and an empirical wear test suitable for small components like cell phone cover for example, in order to characterize the structure, composition and wear resistance of the coatings. The results could be divided into three groups: (I) tungsten-like, with very low oxygen content; (II) mixed phase and (III) tungsten oxide like, with oxygen content close to 75 at%.