The most common neuropsychiatric diagnose among children and adolescents in Swedish schools today is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Many of these pupils are in need of special support and it is therefore important that special teachers and special educational needs coordinators (SENCO:s) have the competence required to meet their needs. The purpose of this essay was to study special teacher and SENCO students? knowledge and attitudes regarding ADHD. This was done using a norm critical and gender perspective.

This report describes an interview study of Swedish elementary school teacher?s view on stu-dent influence. The objective is to find out about teachers' approach to student influence, what do they think happens with students that are allowed to influence and what are the negotiables and non-negotiables when it comes to student influence in elementary education? And do the teachers really want their students to have influence?According to the official policy documents for the Swedish school system the Swedish school shall work towards a democratic school. Not only should the students be educated about de-mocracy but they should also learn to use democratic values and processes.

AbstractThe future of ethanol is depending on good solutions for the production. ENA energy power plant produces electrical power and district heating by heating biofuel. By building an integrated bioenergy plant surplus steam could be used to produce ethanol as fuel to vehicle.This would mean that ethanol is produced renewable energy and the energy for the process derives from the surplus of power.  ENA energy, MDH (the University of Mälardalen) and the energy authority has initiated a research project were different bioenergy combinations integrate with existing power plant.  As a part of the project which size an integrated factory should be to gain the best efficiency for the plant was investigated. Consideration will be taken to the cost of the production in order to be competitive to the price of imported ethanol.  Etanolens framtid vilar på bra lösningar för framställning.  I ENA energi kraftverk i Enköping produceras el och fjärrvärme genom eldning av biobränsle.  Genom att bygga ett integrerat bioenergikraftverk där skulle man kunna använda överskottsånga till att framställa etanol som fordonsbränsle.

The focus of this thesis is the group as a pedagogical tool. It investigates whether and how what is known of group size can help further schools in fulfilling knowledge and democracy goals and moreover how such knowledge can influence the principals? management. The mission of school education is to provide the basis for each pupil?s individual development and in the end it is pupils? individual performances which are graded.

Med utgångspunkt i variationsteorin valde vi ett naturvetenskapligt lärandeobjekt (materians egenskaper) och genomförde en så kallad Learning study. Elevernas förståelse av lärandeobjektet före och efter undervisning har undersökts med hjälp av intervjuer. Elevernas lärande har jämförts med de möjligheter som erbjudits i den videofilmade undervisningen. Två klasser i skolår fem har deltagit i studien. Efter genomförd undervisning i den första klassen analyserades lärandet med avseende på specifika kritiska aspekter.

The largest project at the AICG lab at Linköping University, Cognitive models for virtual characters, focuses on creating an agent architecture for intelligent, virtual characters. The goal is to create an agent that acts naturally and gives a realistic user experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop and implement an appropriate learning model that fits the existing agent architecture using an agile project methodology. The model developed can be seen as an online unsupervised reinforcement learning model that enhances experiences through reward. The model is based on Maes model where new effects are created depending on whether the agent is fulfilling its goals or not.The model we have developed is based on constant monitoring of the system.

The purpose of my study is to examine how four preschool teachers go about using the term play in children's early mathematical development. In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, I have the following questions:How the preschool teachers visualize mathematics in children?s play?What reflections have the preschool teachers about the importance of play for children's mathematical learning in preschool?How do the preschool teachers see on their own role in the children's play?In this study, I have conducted a semi-structured qualitative interviews based on the interviews with four preschool teachers from various departments in a preschool. I have also conducted some observations to complete my study. Whereas in my analysis of the researched material, I have used Vygotsky's theory.The survey shows that the preschool teachers are aware of the use of mathematical language and concepts in children?s different activities which were conducted daily in the preschool.

AbstractThe future of ethanol is depending on good solutions for the production. ENA energy power plant produces electrical power and district heating by heating biofuel. By building an integrated bioenergy plant surplus steam could be used to produce ethanol as fuel to vehicle.This would mean that ethanol is produced renewable energy and the energy for the process derives from the surplus of power.  ENA energy, MDH (the University of Mälardalen) and the energy authority has initiated a research project were different bioenergy combinations integrate with existing power plant.  As a part of the project which size an integrated factory should be to gain the best efficiency for the plant was investigated. Consideration will be taken to the cost of the production in order to be competitive to the price of imported ethanol.  Etanolens framtid vilar på bra lösningar för framställning.  I ENA energi kraftverk i Enköping produceras el och fjärrvärme genom eldning av biobränsle.  Genom att bygga ett integrerat bioenergikraftverk där skulle man kunna använda överskottsånga till att framställa etanol som fordonsbränsle.

During the last decades the importance of IT has increased for businesses all over the world. It has transferred from only being used in administrative purposes to become more integrated to the core business. Due to the financial crisis in 2009 and increasing globalization, IT is facing the challenge of lower costs and increased efficiency. This requires IT-departments to embrace new strategies in order to fulfill these new tougher demands.Lean is a business development concept that aims to lower costs through more effective processes by removing all activities that does not create any value from the end customer?s perspective.

The aim of this study is to investigate how chemistry teachers at secondary school anduniversities work with learning strategies and models of perception. This thesis leans on theworks of Lev Vygotskij and his likes but also on the theory of conceptual metaphors by GeorgeLakoff and Mark Johnson as a tool to analyze the collected data.The Empirical data that this study is based upon have been collected through semi-structuredinterviews with teachers as primary respondents.The study has resulted in a two practical assignments for secondary school which are builtaround the concept of open assignments. This thesis has also generated a suggestion for a newstructure of the bachelor programme in chemistry at KTH..

This Master´s thesis aims to aquire knowledge about volunteers attitude toward work. It emphasis is on the differences between volunteers and non volunteers. There are four research questions used in order to fulfill the aim in a scientific manner. The essay aims to get in depth knowledge regarding whether or not the respondents feel that they have gained advantages in work life due to the fact that they are involved in volunteer work. One of the pivotal questions is if there is a possibility to see a pattern that binds together the reasons for volunteer work and the attitude toward work.

Social work has gone from being a primarily philanthropic issue to becoming an academic discipline at university level. To ensure its legitimacy social work must be founded on, and developed through scientific research and documented experience. The purpose of this essay is to review the various arguments on social work in order to evaluate their impact on education, which in turn affects students. In addition, it will demonstrate how different forms of knowledge are valued depending on the contexts. As a means of reaching this objective, the following questions are addressed: ?What are the requirements and recommendations on how the education of social work should be structured, and why are these requirements and recommendations important??, ?How has the education of social work been influenced by the perception of valuable knowledge?? and ?How does the education of social work affect students?? The collected material consists of various arguments concerning the development of social work and the education of social work's formation.

Abstract This essay will present actual research around the concept of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, how it can reveal itself in school children and how it can influence young people?s learning ability and capacity to retain knowledge.The purpose is, above all, to clearly diagnose PTSD so that children with this complex of problems can receive good possibilities in learning and understanding.The question at hand is responded to by interviewees with an expertise on the subject and one ?story?, collectively with literary studies.The results illustrate that there can be neurological and biological, as well as social explanations for PTSD but it is seldom a permanent diagnosis. It is though something to take very seriously. PTSD can lead to severe psychobiological consequences, mostly by causing damage in one particular part of the brain, known as hippocampus. The hippocampus is essential in terms of memory and concentration.

According to the Swedish preschool policy documents all children should have the same opportunities to develop their early language skills regardless of their social background. The purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers work with children's early literacy and language development with focus on reading aloud. The reason is to investigate how the preschool teachers work to create an environment that stimulates children's literacy and language development. Another intention is to study how often reading aloud occurs in the children's home environment and what the preschool teachers thoughts are about that. The study is based on interviews with four preschool teachers and surveys that were answered by parents.

Facial expressions are a part of our body language that helps us to clarify the verbal communication between humans. We use our facial expressions every day, both consciously and unconsciously, to express emotions and attitudes depending on the situation. The hypothesis of the study is: Given a facial expression, how well can Microsoft Kinect, as an input method, determine a person?s feelings with the two algorithms Naive Bayes and Sequential Minimal Optimization? The feelings are limited to happy, sad, surprised and disgusted. With the help of Kinect, a person?s facial data, both coordinates of the face and parameterized data, were saved and used for machine learning.