This degree project concludes the Innovation and Design Engineering programme at Karlstad University. The project was carried out by David Brocker, Erik Hallberg and Andreas Hertzman during the spring of 2006 and corresponded to 15 weeks of work per student. Assigner was Martin Larsson at Arexor and instructor at Karlstad University was Monica Jakobsson.Arexor has a patent to a construction of an electrical skirting board with moveable wall sockets, called Electrical Track System. The lowest parts of the interior walls along the floor are today almost always covered by a conventional skirting board. Arexors patented product replaces that with the possibility to move and increase the number of wall sockets by choice along an electrical skirting board.

Det blir allt vanligare att ägare till webbplatser anpassar sin webbplats till lågupplösta enheter som t. ex mobiltelefoner. För att genomföra en anpassning finns flera tekniska alternativ. I denna uppsats har det undersökts vilka tekniska aspekter som kan utgöra eventuella hinder när utvecklare möter webbyråkunders krav på upplösningsoberoende design med en av teknikerna, nämligen responsiv webbdesign. Arbetet innefattar en intervju med en webbyråkund som resulterade i en kravspecifikation som sedan stod till grund för en prototyp, där tekniken responsiv webbdesign testades och utvärderades.

The Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics (CGB) is an academic department at Karolinska Institute. Generally stated, the CGB department is committed to the generation and management of genetic information by approaches aiming at elucidating the connection between genes, protein and function.WiGID is a genome information database that is available through WAP (Wireless Application Protocol).Our version of WiGID is based on WML, PHP and PostgreSQL as a database server.One of the changes on the old WiGID application was the creation of a relational database with seven tables and one view, instead of the file that represented the database on the old version. We also changed the script language from python to PHP.The search engine ability has been extended with three new search alternatives for a user to choose from. Each choice leads to other, sometimes multiple choices.A GUI has been created for the administrator, to be able to insert information into the database.The structure of the search engine is primarily for narrowing down the search result on the phone display, thereby making the search efficient..

In this essay the purpose is to show my readers some of the emotions that professional helpers may experience in their daily work. The result is based on interviews with two helpers who works with people that have a variety of problems. Problems that these helpers are facing can for instance be alcoholism/drug abuse/homelessness/psychic illness or a combination of some of these problems. The questions I´m seeking to answer is; How does these helpers look at their own role and the relationship to their clients, and how do they feel about the group of people they are working with? I will also display some experiences regarding the influence from the society and it´s responsibility towards these people.

In this study our aim is to display a series of possible mechanisms which operateswithin the regions and societies were child soldiers were frequently andextensively used in combat tasks. Our study is based on the assumption thattoday's peace-building strategies are inadequate to describe certain problemsfaced by many post-conflict countries, especially in Africa. We argue that largeformations of child soldiers will, if not properly and immediately addressed, causeserve and structural problems in society, gravely hampering growth andinstitutional capacity. The Issues of Post Traumatic Stress and societal insecuritybrought on by the use of child soldiers poses a serious threat to society as a whole.In this study we use Uganda as an illustrative case to describe the mechanisms atwork..

The thesis main objective is to establish the determinants for granting executive stock options and to examine their impact on performance for firms listed on OMXS30. The analysis is based on accounting data gathered from annual reports and Thomson Datastream. The empirical results display that firms grant stock options to mitigate the principal-agent problem. Furthermore, risk proves to be positively significant with executive stock options, implying that either executives increase the level of risk after being granted stock options or influence the decision of the remuneration towards stock options when the firm increase the level of risk, in purpose to boost the expected value of their options. No relation between executive stock options and firm performance could be established..

The purpose of this essay is to display the double moral that is prevailing in France concerning human rights. Immigrants and ethnic minorities are suffering from discrimination as well as racism. By looking at legislation in France concerning FGM/C and its difficulties it becomes clear that there is a correlation between the legislation and African women's situation in general. These women are denied their basic rights and are excluded from society. They are rendered invisible and vulnerable.

About 10 % of the adult women population in Sweden are treated annually for urinary tract infections. The increasing bacterial resistance towards antibiotics is classified by WHO (World Health Organization) and ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) as one of the greatest treats for human health in a global perspective. To find alternatives scientists are studying the possibility to use probiotics to reduce the frequency of recurring urinary tract infections. This literature study examines five randomized double blinded placebo controlled studies where different strains of Lactobacillus have been used as a prophylactic to women suffering from recurrent urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis. Overall the studies do not display enough promising results to recommend the use of probiotics as a prophylax or cure..

The business cycle of the wood flooring branch is currently high however that situation may not be sustainable. In a possible future weaker business climate, the importance of marketing becomes accentuated for firms that aim to maintain their sales levels. We can see trends that competition among the Swedish and foreign manufactures is already stepping up. The intent of this study is to establish marketing guidelines for floor- and molding manufacturers, so they can establish a clearer brand image in DIY retail outlets. By comparing the approach of sports- and DIY stores to brand and product placement, this study aims to bring new knowledge to the DIY branch for improved consumer and product handling.

Health and convenience trends dominate the food industry and retailing business of today. The health consciousness is spreading while appealing product attributes concerning taste and packaging also are increasingly important. At the same time, the competition is growing fierce in the Swedish market with hard discount formats and niche concepts who also are trying to provide the market with perishables. Therefore, the pressure to lower prices is increasing making economies of scale and rationalization progressively more important. In 2004, ICA launched private label meat packaged in a modified atmosphere. Consequently, many stores went from in-store cutting-up and packaging to selling centrally packaged and distributed meat. ICA is now developing a concept with fresh fish in modified atmosphere packages and needs to increase the knowledge about the market and the consumer.

There is a tough competition in food-stores these days. Storeowners have been forced to try something new to attract customers. One way to accomplish that is to add private labels to the assortment. There are several benefits with these labels; its higher margins for this type of brand and the brand can also strengthen the stores image in the customers mind. When private labels first entered the market, the customer had a relatively low attitude towards the brands.

Developing good reading skills is crucial for all pupils in school, and the reading bookis a tool for achieving that. Pupils are entitled to good reading instruction, regardless ofwhich reading level they are at, and regardless of the level of the reader they have beengiven. The aim of the study is to examine a particular teaching material and describe thedifferences that exist between a simpler and a more difficult variant of the same reader.The study is a textual analysis focused on the two readers for grade 2 from the materialDiamantjakten (The Diamond Hunt). The study shows that the two books display greatdifferences. Reading the simpler book involves a smaller amount of text, fewerdescriptive expressions, and a smaller number of words, but it does make demands onthe reader?s ability to read between the lines.

The purpose of this study is to examine how participants perceive virtual agents shown on a computer display. In particular, it is explored to what extent participants transfer gender and attraction stereotypes that are commonly applied in the physical world to virtual agents. Previous related studies have often explored only text or voice interfaces, without any visually appearing agents, and here indeed found evidence for a transfer of gender stereotypes. Our hypothesis was that the addition of a visual agent interface would reinforce this effect. The results support our hypothesis that participants transfer human gender and attraction stereotypes onto virtual agents, as well as that these processes are affected by the visual representations of the agents..

The following thesis will examine how a smaller library manages the prioritization of media between Swedish and 'minority language'. We are also interested in the challenges and problems that can occur in such work, as well as how the librarians think about their role in the integration process. We have studied this through several qualitative interviews with librarians as well as earlier related research. The results show that librarians display a high propensity of appreciation related to working with minority languages and consider this an important aspect of their profession ? they fully ingratiate and accept the importance of helping the immigrant population in learning Swedish.

This thesis explores how verbal and nonverbal signs communicate attitudes and the rhetorical functions of such attitudinal signs. Attitudes are regarded as rationalized evaluations of attitudinal objects, and through their manifestation in signs an attitudinal gestalt is communicated. This gestalt is regarded as the audiences perception of the rhetors attitude. It is shown that the attitudinal signs function as ethical, logical and pathetic proofs and that they can create identification between the audience and the rhetor. The signs can have effects on the audiences perception of the attitudinal objects, their perception of the rhetor and influence the social dynamic of the discourse.