Aid effectiveness is a reoccuring theme in the social sciences. Maybe rightfully so, as development is slow in many parts of the developing world. Core literature on the matter seems to suggest that aid effectiveness is contingent on recipients? level of corruption. Assuming this to be true, I examine the EU?s disbursements of Official Development Assistance over the past decade by running regressions: is there a relationship between the level of aid received, and a country?s level of corruption? As the EU is one of the largest donors of foreign aid globally, and has the power to shape the global foreign aid agenda, this question puts to the test whether the EU is leading the way, or rather is an obstacle in front.

Society is facing rapid and continuous change. In order to participate in the development, organizations need to take advantage of all the knowledge and skills available in the labor market. Women leaders in top positions are still in the minority but do as good a job as their male colleagues. She brings different dynamics and a new dimension in the work culture but is nevertheless excluded from the mightiest rooms. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the organizational factors that determine and facilitate for women to take on leadership positions.

Detta examensarbete är en undersökning i kommunikation genom konst och design.Det är ett gränsöverskridande samarbetsprojekt vars syfte är att skapa en diskussion kring ett fortfarande tabubelagt ämne. Genom ett gestaltande arbete i textila material undersöks hur vi på ett kreativt sätt kan bidra till samhällsdebatten runt övervikt och fetma. Projektet resulterade i två textila verk som gestaltar den nya svenska kroppen. En textil skulptur i form av en överviktig dalahäst och en folkdräkt för den nya svenska kroppen. I vår gestaltning använder vi oss av dalahästen och folkdräkten som symboler för svensken.

During the past years fire has been identified as an important factor for nature conservation in the forest landscape. To accurately quantify the size of a burnt area is obviously important, but also to quantify the degree of fire damage to the tree canopy. Such data are important for assessing the conservation value, and to support planning and management of the burned area in the future. I have examined how to estimate the status of tree crowns after fire from interpretation of aerial photographs. This is possible because fire changes the structure of tree crowns and this influences the colours in aerial photographs by spectral reflection. Included in the study are four areas, three of which burned in 2005 and one in 2006.

Our social lives and where we live shape our choices in life. One of those choices is which party we vote for in the general election. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are any connections between the Swedish general election of 2010, demography, socioeconomic factors and geography. This is done with regression analysis and chosen variables. Another aim is to see where in Sweden the chosen variables aren?t enough to explain the results of the election.

My choice of topic for this essay is the habits of television and computer gaming among young men; mostly their opinion of male and female objectives. My vision of this, being a woman, I often think of the possibilities men have of choosing games where the female characters, in my opinion, often are exposed in a degrading way. To my help I have earlier works on the topic by media scientist Mary Flanagan as the leading authority. She writes much of the character of Lara Croft, and the way she could be an icon for the computer gaming girls of today, despite she is having a stereotypical body shape. I even want to briefly share my thoughts of the always imminent discussion about media panicking; and whether gaming giving the players positive or negative influences.

The purpose of this essay is mainly to study the reason behind students' visits to restaurants, and also their restaurant habits. The study also intends to find a possible difference in students dining habits among the different social classes; working class and middle class.  This study contains qualitative methods. The qualitative research method is in the shape of deep interviews with ten students from different social classes who?s registered at Södertörns  högskola. The results of this investigation show that the consumer society along with the respondent?s habitus and access to capital, has influenced and created their opinions and habits around eating out. This has also created the similarities and differences between them. Keywords:Habtitus, consumption, restaurant, social class, consumer society.

The problem presented in this report is that of finding a method to calculate the lift force from a single-element airfoil of arbitrary shape. A number of restrictions are used in order to simplify calculations while retaining reasonable accuracy. The problem is solved for the two-dimensional case only and no finite-wing effects are taken into account. Furthermore, inviscid and incompressible flow is assumed. The method used to solve the problem is the vortex panel method, with vortex singularities distributed over simplified airfoil geometry.

This project started when LIC Audio AB wanted help with development of a hearing aid for public rooms. The problem is that a lot of people suffer from some sort of hearing impairment. In places with a lot of people and background noise the problem becomes bigger and the sound seems to flow together. During the project we found the solution for the problem in the shape of a headphone. The headphone receives a signal from a preinstalled hearing loop.

Rural development in Southeast Sweden- three different views and their consequences for the agrarian landscapeThis paper deals with the future for the rural areas of the southeast province of Östergötland, Sweden. The aim is to unveil, analyse and compare different views on rural development and their consequences for the agrarian landscape. Three views are considered, namely that of the different levels of Governments and their departments, that of the farmers and landowners and, finaly, that of the inhabitants of the rural areas.Differences in the views upon rural development is reflected in differences in the ways of thinking of landscapes. Is the open, and actively cultivated, landscape the ideal for all? Who is to decide what needs or ought to be done to achieve certain desired values and/or goals ? and who pays for it? The one thing that is, and should be, clear from the beginning is that all development, whether positive or negative in an area, bears consequences for the landscape.

Could patterns change the way we as consumers feel about a product as it ages and wears down? Why do some products increase their value as they are being worn downand others do not? Could the same affection that increases with your favourite jeans or an old, worn down, scratched and beautiful wooden furniture, be applied on otherproducts with different ability?s and history?The goal was to explore patterns and beautiful aging in products to increase the consumers desire to keep the well used product a little bit longer. Not to prolong the products ?lifetime? from brand new till it?s no longer inhabit their main function, but at that precise momentwhen you as a consumer decides to through it away in favour for a new, updated version. To buy ?new and fresh?.Patterns with different expressions, colouring and size, were explored that increase the value of a product which in this project contained handles and varies of surfaces on casseroles, frying pans, whisks, cutlery etc.

Att ta fram en ny bilmodell är ett tidskrävande och omfattande arbete där många olika kunskapsområden måste samspela. En del i utvecklingsprocessen som får allt större betydelse är designarbetet. Om bilens utförande och design inte tilltalar konsumenterna innebär detta låga försäljningssiffror och därmed förlorade intäkter för företaget.Det huvudsakliga syftet med detta arbete är att grundligt undersöka om och hur CAD-programmet Catia V5 med modulen Imagine & Shape (IMA) skulle kunna användas på Volvo Car Corporations designavdelning (PVS). Syftet är också att granska vad en implementering av Catia V5 med IMA-modulen skulle innebära för produktutvecklingsprocessen, samt att undersöka vilka som skulle kunna använda sig av programmet. För att undersöka hur Catia V5:s IMA-modul skulle kunna fungera på PVS har vi i samarbete med designstuderande Pontus Ny modellerat en konceptbil, komplett med exteriör, instrumentpanel, mittkonsol, ratt, stolar, baksäte, fälgar och hjul.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine whether the term elasticity is relevant and functional to apply to public library organisations. Another aim of the thesis is to relate the term elasticity to public library organisations in a network society. Sociologist Manuel Castells provide the theoretical framework on the network society. Three investigations (meant to complement each other) in two Swedish public libraries seek to give answers to these questions.To be able to examine which areas of public library activity are elastic, I make a rough definition of what public library organisations consist of ? nine activity fields are identified using IFLA?s guidelines in combination with Swedish law of public libraries.

The thesis focus on how organizations can improve the ability of absorbing coworkers ideas in purpose of gaining long term competitive advantage through innovations. The study was conducted at IKEA AB where a campaign to collect coworkers ideas was a big success given the quantity of ideas collected. This fact allows a comparative analysis of idea management in the shape of campaigns and in comparison, idea management in the everyday line-organization.The analysis show that fundamental factors for innovative environments such as organizational climate, culture and leadership perceives auspiciously by the respondents. However, lack of infrastructure such as systems and processes hinders coworkers ambitions to contribute with ideas.An important issue in idea management is the treatment of incentives for innovation. Results of the study show that the ?soft? incentives ?feedback, encouragement and attention have a higher impact in coworkers willingness to the contribution of ideas than for instance monetary rewards..

Preschool is a place that is continually undergoing change at a rapid pace and developing the skills of our educators is essential for their ability to keep up with these changes. Guidance conversations can be used as a vital tool for the educators competence development.The purpose of this essay is to investigate how educators, special educators and preschool principals think and reason about the use of guidance conversations in preschool.A qualitative method has been used in the shape of interviews with educators, special educators and preschool principals working within different districts of a medium sized city in the south of Sweden.These interviews revealed that the use of guidance conversations is often controlled by specific needs and is used when a problem arises amongst the children. There are many expectations on the special educators role in these conversations, one of which is the role of conversation leader with the purpose of guiding the conversation amongst involved parties and give them the tools they need to resolve problems by themselves instead of delivering packaged solutions..