This study examines the experiences of public library staff who works in an LGBTQ-profiled children’s library. The aim of the study is further to find out whether the library as an institution can challenge heteronormativity or if traditional gender identities are reproduced. I have conducted five qualitative interviews with librarians who all work in the same library, and who all work with children to some extent. The interview material is analyzed with queer theory and norm critical theories of pedagogy. These perspectives wish to critically examine heteronormativity and change what is defined as normal. The result of the study shows that the way the library works with separate rainbow shelves, where LGBTQ-themed material is gathered, is pointing out LGBTQ as something different. And although it may also shed a light on a group formerly made invisible, it is reproducing traditional gender identities and leaves heteronormativity unquestioned. By contrast, the way the librarians are working with always including LGBTQ-materials in programming as storytimes and book presentations, is challenging the dominant position of heterosexuality. It is also shown that the way the library staff has developed their written and oral communication with the patrons, including using the gender neutral pronomina ”hen” and alternatives to ”mom and dad”, is increasing the possibilities of an inclusive reception in the library. The oral communication is for various reasons not always used though. In conclusion the interviews show that the librarians are positive to working with LGBTQ-issues although they sometimes tend to forget. The study further concludes that the library’s way of working with LGBTQ-issues is both reproducing traditional gender identities, and challenging heteronormative structures. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Although Sweden is considered to be in the lead concerning an open-minded perception of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population, very little attention has been given to the elderly within this target group. The elder LGBT population’s got special needs that haven’t been made sufficiently visible, neither as a research field, from social institutions nor from the LGBT movement itself. This study has described the target group's specific needs, based on the results of a focus group consisting of older LGBT people. Their experiences and stories have given an idea of what adjustments must be made to satisfy their specific needs. These needs have included the development of housing with LGBT focus, education for health care workers, information about the existence of the target group to other elderly and changes in the practice of social workers. Respondents' attitudes, opinions and ideas have been analyzed by means of queer theory, ageism and the intersectional perspective. Finally, the results have been discussed and a few recommendations are provided.

The public libraries in Sweden has an obligation to serve all of its citizens, but despite of this they often fail to include their LGBTQ-patrons. Since the year of 2008 RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) have arranged a specially designed certification-process based on normcritical criterias that a chosen institution should fulfill to make their work more inclusive for LGBTQ-people. Sollentuna is the first municipal in Sweden to certificate all of their libraries. This study aims to examine what the certification have meant for the public library in Sollentuna and how a normcritical view can contribute to include LGBTQ-patrons at the library. As a method we used a qualitative interview-study to get a full picture of the certification-process and its influence on the public library of Sollentuna. Our main source of information has been through interviews with four individuals who have been involved in or has experience of the certification-process. As a theoretical framework we used queer-theory to understand how a normcritical perspective can influence the daily work in the library. The results showed that the certification has made the library staff aware of the social norms they have been replicate. We have come to the conclusion that the certification is a good entrance for public libraries to start implementing a normcritical view in their daily work for inclusion of a wide range of minority groups.

<p>The aim of our study was to examine how homosexual and heterosexual men and women are represented in the Swedish magazine QX, a magazine for gay, bisexual and transgender people. We wanted to find out what kind of roles the persons in QX appears in, and inquire the relationships that exist between them.</p><p>We analyzed the texts in twelve magazines, from December 2008 to November 2009, in order to get the most current results as possible. We used a discourse analysis, with focus on identities, relationships and the representation of the world. Representations, gender, hegemonic masculinity and stereotypes have been significant theories to analyze our results.</p><p>The results showed that the successful gay man is the most important person in QX. He is the perfect masculine macho fagot, who is highest in rank. Something we found remarkable is that the gay women are subordinate to men, despite that QX is a magazine for both parts. The results also showed that homosexual women are represented more stereotyped than the homosexual men. The heterosexual men are represented as the homosexual men’s supporter, while heterosexual women are represented very queer and argues that a human’s gender, is not primarily in focus when it comes to relations. In our results, we could also see that, generally, there is a more sexistic tone in texts about men than in texts about women.</p>

Syftet har varit att synliggöra och analysera inkludering och exkludering inom den svenska hbtq-rörelsen, samt att fördjupa förståelsen för konflikterna inom rörelsen. Genom diskursteoretisk analys av massmedias beskrivning av aktioner under 2012 har följande resultat uppnåtts; inom rörelsen framkommer två diskurser, med olika syn på vilka politiska frågor rörelsen ska fokusera på. Dessa kallas i uppsatsen den endimensionella och den flerdimensionella diskursen. Den endimensionella vill återgå till en mer "klassisk" homokamp, medan den flerdimensionella har ett mer intersektionellt synsätt och vill bredda det politiska spektrumet. Diskurserna har även olika syn på vilka politiska metoder som är mest effektiva samt skiljer sig åt i sitt förhållningssätt till queerbegreppet. Enligt min analys diskuterades vad som beskrevs som en splittring inom rörelsen under denna tidsperiod på ett väldigt specifikt sätt, där begreppet extremism var centralt.

The aim of the essay is to explore how so called ”safe spaces” are built, and the part that creativity can play in this construction. The essay also explores the duality of idea-based social work that at the same time strives to support vulnerable groups and strives to make social and political changes. The essay has its empirical base in the RFSL Ungdom project ”Tusen bilder, tusen ord” (A thousand pictures, a thousand words). RFSL Ungdom is the Swedish youth organization for homosexual, bisexual and transgender rights. The object of ”Tusen bilder, tusen ord” is to increase psychological well-being amongst queer youth under the age of 26 by providing a safe space where they can meet, and by encouraging their creative expressions in various workshops which are led by queer-identified artists. The essay is conducted through semi-structural interviews with participants in the project, and through participating observations of some of the workshops. Its theoretical base is previous research in the concept of safe spaces, strategies of resistance, and creativity. The result shows that the safe space ”Tusen bilder, tusen ord” is constructed in various ways, for example identification with each other and a ”queer identity” and through the trust that participants in the project felt towards the organization RFSL Ungdom. The creative expressions established an air of openness and understanding in the group, and also served as ways to reshape and transform the heteronormative surroundings, through the project's art-exhibition, and through the inner queer fantasy space bricolage.

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The performance of III-V heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) has improved significantly over the past two decades. Today’s state of the art Indium Phosphide (InP) HBTs have a maximum frequency of oscillation greater than 800 GHz and have been used to realize an amplifier operating above 600 GHz . In comparison to silicon (Si) based devices, III-V HBTs have superior transport properties that enables a higher gain, higher speed, and noise performance, and much higher Johnson figure- of-merit . From this perspective, the InP HBT is one of the most promising candidates for high performance mixed signal electronic systems.

This research presents design techniques for a linear power amplifier with high efficiency in wireless handsets. The power amplifier operates with high efficiency at the saturated output power, maintains high linearity with enhanced efficiency at back-off power levels, and covers a broadband frequency response. The amplifier is thus able to operate in multiple modes (2G/2.5G/3G/4G). The design techniques provide contributions to current research in handset power amplifiers, especially to the converged power amplifier architecture, to reduce the number of power amplifiers within the handset while covering all standards and frequency bands around the globe. Three main areas of interest in power amplifier design are investigated: high power efficiency; high linearity; and broadband frequency response. Multiple techniques for improving the efficiency are investigated with the focus on maintaining linear operation. The research applies a new technique to the handset industry, class-J, to improve the power efficiency while avoiding the practical issues that hinder the typical techniques (class-AB and class-F). Class-J has been implemented using GaN FET in high power applications. To our knowledge, this work provides the first implementation of class-J using GaAs HBT in a handset power amplifier. The research investigates the linearity, and the nature and causes of nonlinearities. Multiple concepts for improving the linearity are presented, such as avoiding odd-degree harmonics, and linearizing the relationship between the output current and the input voltage of the amplifier at the fundamental frequency. The concept of bias depression in HBT transistors is introduced with a bias circuit that reduces the bias-offset effect to improve linearity at high output power. A design methodology is presented for broadband matching networks, including the component loss. The methodology offers a quick and accurate estimation of component values, giving more degrees of freedom to meet the design specifications. It enables a trade-off among high out-of-band attenuation, number/size of components, and power loss within the network. Although the main focus is handset power amplifiers, most of the developed techniques can be applied to a wide range of power amplifiers. / Ph. D.