Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the ?critical theory? of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic ?cultural studies? approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic ?cultural studies? field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the ?completed? convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture.

Every year, pesticides are found in surface and ground waters in Sweden. Fungicides are in common usage and applied in high amounts against potato late blight. The present thesis examined the possible removal of four fungicides (metalaxyl, cyprodinil, propamocarb and mandipropamid) from water using the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Microorganisms are capable of decomposing a range of organic pollutants and the main focus in previously published studies has been on bacteria and fungi. Microalgae are mostly studied due to their high capacity in biosorbing heavy metals.

Saab Component Maintenance in Linköping, Sweden, offers maintenance, repair andoverhaul (MRO) services for civilian and military aircraft components. Lately, thedepartment has struggled with slow throughput rates, despite various counteractingattempts. Studies show, that large parts of the delays derive from the logisticsdepartment where goods arrive and dispatch. Therefore, Saab wants to carry out anextensive analysis of the department in order to further investigate what is causing itsslow throughput rates.The thesis begins with extensive mapping over Component Maintenances whole valuestream to find out how departments interact with each other and which roleindividual departments have in the total supply chain. Out of 13 000 different partnumbers, components were divided into five product families.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate and discuss the political and ideological aspects of Early Medieval Nordic music. Due to shortage of sources, this issue has been overlooked until now. Did Early Medieval Nordic music meet the requirements for political and ideological use? In what ways could music potentially be used politically and ideologically? Was music used as a political and ideological tool? This is examined by a contextual analysis combining music history and historical archaeology. The survey consists of a background account, focusing on the potential of music and some requests for political use, and three case studies, where musical reflections of societal tensions is investigated in folk music lyrics, Icelandic sagas and church art.

Today an increasing number of schools and organizations are investing in so called Learning Management Systems. Researchers disagree on the pedagogical value of these tools. Some mean that Learning Management Systems cement old-fashioned behaviouristic teaching practices; others mean that the systems provide good opportunities in supporting learning in a socio cultural perspective. The aim of this study is to reach better understanding and increased knowledge of how the introduction of a Learning Management System influences the role of the teacher and how the learning is organized. We have conducted two case studies.

I have chosen to write this essay on language development in a preparatory class due to the fact that I live in a city where diversity is big and newly arrived students from different countries are constantly increasing in schools. My study has been made in a preparatory class in Södertälje. The National Agency for Education highlights the deficiencies in preparatory classes and believes that education is not adapted to each student's knowledge and maturity and it is therefore difficult for students to reach the goals in school. According to studies by the National Agency for Education, it appears that many newly arrived students do not recieve study guide in their native language, a resource that they are entitled to. Teachers and principals do not take charge of  students knowledge from previous school attendance in their home countries such as mathematics, history and other subjects.

Nearly 50 years after the building of the first million programme neighbourhoods many Swedish municipalities faces an extensive restoration work in these neighbourhoods which during their relatively short lifetime have acted as a target for a large amount of criticism. Öster in Gävle is a million programme neighbourhood that has gone through an extensive restoration between 2001-2009 with the aim of improving the living environment. Improvements have been made in the outdoor environment, to the facades of the houses and the entrances? of each building. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the effects of the renewal in the physical outdoor environment for those who live in the neighbourhood.

Danmarksplass is situated just outside the centre of the city of Bergen on the Norwegian west coast. It was built in the 1930´s as a result of an architecture competition won by the prominent Norwegian architect Ole Landmark. Danmarksplass was originally meant to function as a local square, but its location next to Fjösangerveien, a road that caters for most of the through traffic in the Bergen valley today and is part of one of the main European roads, E39, would prove it difficult for that idea to prevail. Along with the ever increasing car traffic, Danmarksplass has more and more become a very busy traffic junction. Nowadays the car is the sole ruler of Danmarksplass.

Animals in zoos live in small enclosed areas. If a pathogen is introduced to the zoo, the animals are extremely vulnerable. The highest risk of introducing new pathogens occurs when new animals are introduced to the collection. Therefore it is essential that zoos have a protocol in place for disease prevention. This review has studied literature on the subject of disease prevention protocols when translocating animals between zoos.

Background: Mental ill-health among adolescents is one of the most increasing public health problems in Sweden. Particularly girls suffer from mental and psychosomatic symptoms. The National Board of Health and Welfare recommend the DISA method as a preventive measure. Problem: Investigations has been done of the DISA method, but further investigations needs to be done. Aim: The aim of the study was partly to investigate how participants in DISA groups in two counties understand the method and its eventual effect and partly how their mood change, to contribute with knowledge to the development of the DISA method.

This master?s thesis studies library teaching at two university libraries, Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and Södertörn University in Sweden. The aim of this paper is to study views on information literacy, how these views affect teaching practice, and how the teaching of information literacy is connected to, on the one hand, German and Swedish learning culture and, on the other, the local community of practice at the studied university libraries. The theories applied in this paper are learning culture and community of practice as developed in the works of Judith Ricken and Etienne Wenger. The methods that have been used are qualitative, semi-structured interviews that were conducted at both university libraries.It was observed that the teaching practices were highly connected to learning cultures.

Velopharyngeal insufficiency may affect resonance, articulation and thus how speech is perceived by other listeners. Velopharyngeal insufficiency is frequently found in the cleft palate population due to structural abnormalities of the palate. The pharyngeal flap is the most commonly used operation designed to improve velopharyngeal function. The aim of the present study was to compare speech before and after pharyngeal flap surgery by perceptual evaluation regarding nasality, articulation and deviant speech. The study includes preoperative and postoperative speech samples of 28 patients who underwent pharyngeal flap surgery at the University Hospital in Linköping between 2002 and 2007.

Background and Problem: Human Resources are considered one of the most important assets when competing with other companies. There are a lot of studies made in general on the subject while studies considering a specific context are missing. To consider the context when adapting a HR-strategy is interesting as the structure of the organization and the environment affects both the organization and the individuals within it. To study how the controversial context affects an organization is particularly interesting as the context is subject for discussion in the society.Aim: The study's purpose is to investigate how Human Resources are handled in a controversial business and to identify success factors when adapting the strategy to the controversial context.Methodology: The study started out by collecting theories connected to the subject with Fombrun, Devanna & Tichys HR-cycle. Interview questions where made based on the theories and answered by three of the case company's employees, whom all are well familiar with the case company's HR-strategy.Conclusion: We have come to the conclusion that there are no remarkable differences when handling Human Resources in a controversial context then in earlier published theories.

Due to better nutrition, veterinary and overall care, pet dogs? lifespan has increased. With more old dogs we see more health problems associated with age, among those cognitive decline, leading to deficits in learning and memory, disorientation, anxiety and other altered behaviors. Cognitive decline can have severe negative impacts on the life of both dog and owner, when the dog for example forgets being housetrained or starts being awake at night. Two pet food manufacturers have developed food with specific ingredients in order to improve cognitive functions or delay the onset of cognitive impairment. Hill?s Pet Nutrition has developed a dog food with supplements of a broad spectrum of antioxidants and mitochondrial nutrients, aiming to diminish oxidative damage in the brain, thereby maintaining brain function and improving learning ability.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is any connection between working hours, desired working hours and the worker ?s health. The study also aims to investigate if there are any differences over time. Earlier studies have shown that individuals need a balance in their life between worked hours and free time. This balance seems to be important for employees if they want to lead and remain a healthy lifestyle.