Access to correct and updated intelligence about our environment is in an increasingly degree considered important in the private as well as in the public sector. At Mälardalens University, competitive intelligence as an area of research is closely related to Information Design - a multidisciplinary consideration which goal is to improve the receiver´s understanding of intended messages. This study was conducted in order to find out how Information Design was representedin different kinds of literature regarding Competitive Intelligence. Also, it describes the main focus areas concerning Competitive Intelligence in the same literature. Through an explorative "pearl-growing" method combined with searches through referrals, 60 different sources provide a broad basis for analysis.

The purpose of our study is to see how an organization, and also a administrative authority, communicates by using social media. The organization in this case is the Swedish Police, because of their paradoxical problem with confidentiality versus openness and transparency. The Police has over a hundred Facebook-accounts, where they try to have a open dialogue with their publics without breaking the law of secrecy. Our general purpose of the study is also to see what the pros and cons are of having a own media channel, instead of the traditional media and their often anticipation twists.The result of the study showed that the three different police precincts, which we investigated in our essay, are working in three different ways. The gap may affect their overall reputation and trust gained by their publics.

It's an everyday experience shared by many that nature can be of help in relieving pain, reducing stress, support mental recovery etc. In the last three decades or so this experience has also found support in a large number of scientific investigations. Among other things the experience of nature has been shown to reduce stress and pain in patients and to boost concentration and reduce impulsive behavior in children. Most of this research however has mainly been concerned with the visual modality. In this thesis the aim has been to focus on the auditory modality in this context by trying to reveal some effects on people from the exposure of nature sounds played indoors in three different environments: a grammar school class room, a kindergarten play room and a post-surgery wake up room at an intensive care unit.

Eight out of ten Swedes has once in a while pain in the back, neck or shoulders. This often depends on inactivity and monotonous work under a long time. Pain affects us mentally since the body and mind affect each other, which can lead to an evil circle of pain and depression. A typical imbalance in an office worker with the arms in front of the body while working is that the muscles on the front of the trunk will be shortened, since they never work with their full length and become strong because of the constant use. On the other hand, the muscles on the back of the trunk will be weakened and elongated, since they are working in an extended and static position.

This masters thesis looks at the reception of the beat generation in six given American magazines spanning through the years 1957-1961. The study is basically one of literaty reception. The aim is to see how and if the institution of literature handed the beat generation an identity to go along with their arts. With the use of discourse analysis we have pointed out certain characteristics in the six articles that have been a part of building up an image of the beat generation as a whole. By dividing the result into the two categories social and literary practice we can clearer see what significants were used to create the beat generation.

Visual Type Instrument - VTI, is a tool containing a typeface and a set of geometric calculations that generates numerical data in spreadsheets. The data is determined from the typefaces visual dimensions and is used to calculate leading, type size, margins and format. The aim is to offer, for all of those working with typography and design, a practical way to manage text, image and format in relationship to visual size. Instead of using point measurements, VTI uses a new device called Edo. An Edo is the same as one twelfth of a millimetre.

The concept of art infusion has become more and more used in the field of marketing and product advertising, and the phenomenon has been subject to research. The purpose of this paper is to study how the perception of an office environment is influenced by different kinds of art settings. The study is made as a survey in which the respondents have been exposed to working environments, only differentiated by the existence of different kinds of art or non-existence of art in the presentation. There are many conclusions to draw from the study, the most important is that the presence of art gives positive spillover effects on the surrounding environment..

Eco-design is all about improving products environmental performances throughout the products lifecycle by including the environmental aspect into the product development process. There are a large number of different tools that can be used for this, but there are several factors that can affect which one will be the best to use. Some tools for eco-design takes comprehensive studies and can only be performed by experts, while some tools can be used more time- and cost efficient and with basic knowledge. The choice of tool should be based on the company?s situation.This report describes the research of how the design and furniture company Blå Station could include a tool for eco-design in their product development process.

This survey is a theoretical analysis concerning didactics of literature, in which I problematize what Martha C. Nussbaum describes as ?narrative imagination?. By using postcolonial theory, more specific: Gayatri Spivaks essay ?Can the Subaltern Speak?? and her theoretical formula ?a leap into the other?s sea?, I try to answer the following question: Can ?narrative imagination? be understood as a manifistation or concretisation of ?a leap into the other?s sea??The answer that is given concerning my general question is simply: No.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate and illustrate the measures that parents, teachers and school librarians can take in order to influence childrens reading, and, more importantly, how these attempts performed by the adults in the childs environment affect the reading habits of the child. The methods used include qualitative interviews, undertaken with eight students/children, their teacher and a school librarian, and an observation of a book talk in the studied class. Considering that no interviews have been executed with the parents, the results presented regarding the parents prospects of encouraging childrens reading, are therefore to be seen from the perspective of the children, and analysed as such. Three different theories have been employed in order to elucidate the results of the study; Bourdieus theory about the cultural capital transmitted from parent to child; Aidan Chambers theory on the book talk as promoting reading; and Louise Limbergs theory on the levels of the school library and its consequent prognosis of working to promote reading. The results of the study concur with Bourdieus theory, in that the childrens reading habits in most cases seem to have been affected by the amount of involvement that the parents have given to promote their reading.

This paper was part of the ongoing cooperation between the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Psychology at Lund University. The purpose of this study was to develop a self-report measure regarding human factors, for the air traffic controllers to fill out before they start their working shift. This in order to aid the team leaders in their judgment regarding the air traffic controller's ability to perform at the right safety level. The self-report measure would also serve as an aid for the air traffic controllers who have a responsibility regarding their own performance. If successful this self-report measure would make it easier for the air traffic controllers to be alert regarding certain factors that can have a large impact on their performance.

This study will examine if caregivers, working with people with dementia problems, is in need of support and in what way they see how the support should be designed. Previous research shows that there are many factors in elderly care that affect all of the caregivers. Working with people in this sort if dependence, requires a lot of the caregivers, both mentally and physically. To study if the caregivers consider themselves to be in need of support, and in what way they see how the support should be designed, the study employs a qualitative approach using to types of interviews, one focus group with four assistant nurses, and two individual in-depth interviews with the administrative personnel and one nurse. The results show that the need for support for the caregivers exists. Caregivers working with people with dementia problems, daily face difficulties, some more difficult to handle than others.

Bullying is a widespread problem that currently exists in many places and in different age groups. In our paper we intend to focus on bullying in adult life. As many as 340,000 adult persons are subjected to victimization in the form of bullying, which is about 9 % of the working population. Between 100 and 300 cases of all suicides committed in Sweden can be linked to bullying. Bullying is a social problem that should be taken more seriously than it does.

The following chapters examine landscape architecture which engages in contested territories with an emphasis on the way in which landscape architecture can engage with the issues of divided cities or landscapes with similar social, cultural and physical properties. The project focuses specifically on the potential landscape architecture has for promoting or aiding in the reconciliation process of these areas, by examining the following questions. How can landscape architecture be used to benefit the peace building process of divided cities and landscapes? How can landscape architecture be used in the process of promoting spatial reconciliation in the case of Belfast? The investigation begins with a description of the background to the project in Chapter 1, which functions as a brief introduction to the urban phenomena that is divided cities. It then goes on to introduce the different methods and data employed in order to answer the research questions in Chapter 2. After introducing the problem and the methodology, a global overview of divided cities is performed in Chapter 3. This chapter is divided into two sections.

In Sweden there are laws and recommendations from The National Board of Health and Welfare about the importance of a user's involvement in and possibility of influencing services directed at them. Even with such good intentions the same board reports that it is hard to know if people experience that they do. The purpose of my study was to examine how professionals can use their knowledge to help users increase their sense of influence in services that they use. My focus has been on adults with neuropsychiatric disabilities within the autistic spectra, such as Asperger syndrome, and on the professionals working with them. The specific problem among people with neuropsychiatric disabilities is a lack of social skills.