The purpose of this study is to examine if digital public libraries are serendipitous environments. Serendipity in this instance is defined as finding something unexpected and valuable, while searching for something else.A survey was conducted at two Swedish digital public libraries, where the patrons were asked to fill in a questionnaire online. The questions were based on the work on serendipitous digital environments by Lori McCay-Peet, as well as considerations of human factors that could possibly influence serendipity.The result indicate that a majority of patrons experience serendipity at the digital library, although it?s still more common to do so at the physical library or on other Web sites. The result also confirms the importance of taking human factors into account when studying serendipity.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine how the public library communicates with young users through the library Web sites. Four Swedish public library web pages for children are analysed. In the analysis the web pages are treated as a combination of semiotic resources that, communicating as a whole, hold a meaning potential. In order to identify the underlying meaning of the whole I have applied the tools of Kress' & van Leeuwen's visual social semiotics to the chosen web pages.The information value, the framing and the salience of each composition is examined and analysed, as is the size of frame, the perspective and the vertical angle of a selection of images from each web page. The results of the semiotic analysis are then discussed and related to Jochumsen et al:s four space-model and the notion of ?child perspective? and ?empowerment?.The results show that the child perspective is strongest on the web pages that represent the performative space as dominating and that empowerment is mainly represented as ?doing?, ?participating? and the ?free choice?.

Horse-hair lichen Bryoria bicolor is a red-listed lichen species in the category Vulnerable. It is an oceanic lichen and it is often found on boulders and cliffs in a semi-open environment with a high humidity in the agricultural landscape. The species can also be found as an epiphyte on trees, mostly in boreal forests in the provinces of Dalarna, Härjedalen and Jämtland. In the agricultural landscape, there has been indications on that B. bicolor show a decline, and this studie aimed at examining the extent and causes of this decline.

Productivity of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) was studied on 12 sites in coastal areas of northern Sweden. On each site, sample plots were placed in adjacent Norway spruce and Scots pine stands with similar ages in between. Basal area, tree height, Site Index, volume production, simulated maximum mean annual increment (MAImax) and tree vitality were compared for the two species. Average basal area at the time of measurement was 30.4% larger for Scots pine stands than for Norway spruce stands. The difference between the two species in basal area increment during the last 10 years was related to stand age.

Zetterberg's Industri AB believe that capital and lead time will be reduced by implementing Kanban. Therefore, it was an investigation to prove that Kanban is an effective method. In this work a research had to be done to show how the material supply system looks like today and to explore the subframe components to see which components that are interesting from Kanban viewpoint. Previous orders of subframes were investigated. Therefore, it was a list of the various components of the previous orders for the subframe.

The music distribution in Sweden and the world is rapidly changing. The music industry, however, has been reluctant to change the way they distribute music. The consequence has been that illegal music files have been available for downloading to anyone with an Internet connection. Because of the illegal downloading a new law have been implemented in an attempt to stop this behaviour. Our theory is that in implementing the IPRED-law, the sites that were hosting most of the illegal material will experience a severe decrease in traffic.

The purpose of this essay is to explore how social media affect the political orientation and commitment of youths. Three scientific questions highlight the purpose from different angles. The didactic perspective is discussed in the initial and closing discussion, and is analyzed in the corresponding chapter. Two methods are involved in the study; one survey and one interview with a focus group. The survey had a total of 98 respondents from four different classes, all in the first grade of upper secondary school.

The development of productivity in the construction industry has long been at a steady state compared to the manufacturing industry. Studies have shown that, amongst other things, waste on construction sites can reach up to one third of the total production cost. This has been observed from different aspects, and change is forthcoming.This thesis aims to provide a foundation for an increased productivity at production sites of building bridges. It is primarily based on a field study at Skanska, at a bridge construction site near Grängesberg. Via continuous interviews with the whole production crew, construction workers and management, information on interference and possibilities of improvement at the work site has been documented.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze how the mining equipment producers on a global market manage to handle the changing conditions concerning customer value. Our approach has been a comparative analysis between two different sites in order to answer the purpose. The case studies at Metso Mining have been made through interviews and visits at two geographical markets, South America and Scandinavia. The theoretical framework applied on our empirical findings is based on Blue Ocean Strategy, Customer Value and Resourced Based View. The empirical foundation is based on interviews with Metso Mining employees at Sorocaba in Brazil and Kiruna/Gällivare, Trelleborg and Staffanstorp in Sweden.

The music distribution in Sweden and the world is rapidly changing. The music industry, however, has been reluctant to change the way they distribute music. The consequence has been that illegal music files have been available for downloading to anyone with an Internet connection. Because of the illegal downloading a new law have been implemented in an attempt to stop this behaviour. Our theory is that in implementing the IPRED-law, the sites that were hosting most of the illegal material will experience a severe decrease in traffic.

Risk assessment of effects on the environment and health outcome caused by the iron industryLina LöfqvistIn Sweden you can find lots of contaminated areas, which can create problems for both humans and nature. To reduce the long-term contamination grades, Naturvårdsverket have created a report with regard to the contaminated sites. This builds on the ?Method for Inventories of Contaminated Sites? which is abbreviated MIFO. The aim of MIFO is to achieve better environmental planning in Sweden.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine if academic libraries market e-journals, and if so how this work is carried out. The ambition is to study what channels and methods the Libraries use, to inform their users that they have access to e-journals. The aim is also to survey if the libraries evaluate the use of the e-journals, and if so how. The objectives of the work are reached by using two main methods, document analysis and qualitative interviews. The study has been performed on three university libraries.

Diversity of ground beetles (Col: Carabidae) in managed riparian grasslands. The carabid community in moist seminatural grasslands was studied at three different sites in mid-Sweden. Pitfall trapping was carried out during six weeks in spring and early summer 2003. Eight transects, each containing seven pitfall traps, were placed in three different management regimes, either late or continous grazing, or meadow. The species composition was analysed by ordination analyses, i.e. DCA and CCA.

The purpose of this essay is to explore how social media affect the political orientation and commitment of youths. Three scientific questions highlight the purpose from different angles. The didactic perspective is discussed in the initial and closing discussion, and is analyzed in the corresponding chapter. Two methods are involved in the study; one survey and one interview with a focus group. The survey had a total of 98 respondents from four different classes, all in the first grade of upper secondary school.

The need for roundwood transport capacity vary throughout the year. The need during a period is influenced mainly by the volume transported the period, the number of days during which transport can be carried out, seasonal variations in road conditions and the weight of the roundwood, and the origin of the wood (private forest owners/ forest companies). The need for transport capacity generally increase during the winter and in spring, after thawing. Lack of logging trucks combined with a lack of drivers for these trucks make it hard to hire extra help during periods of increased transport capacity needs. It is also very expensive to keep logging trucks for use only during these periods. In this thesis, two new concepts based on the partial transport by truck tractors have been examined, to find out the possibility for increased performance and flexibility.