With the advent of globalisation driving the People.s Republic of China to embrace its future, the local government has shown great enthusiasm promulgating one of the oldest industries. Foreign higher educational providers that operate in China through the mode of joint venture cooperatives between a Chinese and foreign institution of higher learning are becoming increasingly .knowledgeable-hungry. public or private universities and colleges. Such operations commonly known as Sino-foreign educational cooperatives (SFEC), are hotly spawned on the mainland, enrolling Chinese students through the division of responsibilities, roles and resources. The Chinese party is mostly responsible for the hardware support, supplying facilities and logistics as the part of the bargain, whereas the foreign party provides the intellectual software of academic programs. The locus of this qualitative study aims to present and investigate a distinct phenomenon of learning in SFEC through the theories of sociocultural perspective encumbered in a transitional context; Sino-foreign (SF) graduates to other workplace communities. Without common interests of social interaction, co-participation, and transformation, SFEC are often discredited due to various factors. The learning aims will feature participative and transformative themes that feature qualitative and interpretive methods. Thus, this research involves interviewing four relevant participants from the likes of two Chinese nationals and two non-Chinese, and how they view learning in SFEC applied to a transitional context, the workplace. My furtherance of analysis will generally stress learning, co-participation and transformative learning in activities that circumvents discriminatory elements of artifacts, identity profiling, relationships, commitment and workplace employment for the necessary transition. In the initial research phase, it did seem that putting learning into community practice in China was essential. In the closing stages, thoughts will flow to the legitimisation of participative and transformative learning, which forms the backdrop of this original theme of research gathered through previous works of similar purview. Prawatt and Floden (1994) remark that knowledge, and the belief that knowledge is the result of social interaction and language usage, and thus is a shared, rather than an individual, experience. Presumably, my chosen theories frame the interactive and shared communal nature of the Chinese society and learning systems. / na

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze how the Swedish company VisitSweden and The Swedish institute creates an image of Sweden and what that image looks like? And also to compare their goals and their ways of present Sweden to find out how that contributes to the images of Sweden. The method for this analyze is chosen from the work and theories of Norman Fairclough called “critical discourse analyze.” The analysis focuses on the text and how the text is created and if the author’s opinions are hidden in the words. The method can be applied in many ways. I choose to focus on is what kind of themes the author presents in the text and what meaning the author gives the themes. The other one I focused on is how the author addresses the reader of the text trough the choice of words and sentences. The third one is analyzing how the author says thing in the text, if the author agrees with certain statements ore if the author takes a very authoritarian expression in the way of telling things to the readers, which is taken from the work of Roger Fowlers. The material used in the analyzing parts is taken from books concerning discourse analyze. More material is taken from interviewing several employees in VisitSweden and the Swedish institute. The main result of the essay is that the image of Sweden is depending on which company who presents it and their individual goals. The main thing is that Sweden is more and more becoming a brand and that the companies want to sell that brand in different ways. Number of pages: 45 Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Fall 2006/2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University ___________________________________________ Key words: The image of Sweden, the Swedish institute, VisitSweden, critical discourse analyze, Sweden as a brand, selling a country, goals to make PR for a country, how to present a country to foreigners.

This study presents a holistic view of which factors small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to consider, in moving their customer order decoupling point (CODP) further from the customer, thereby becoming more customized. The study also investigate whether SMEs and larger enterprises differ in the strategic questions relating to what influences an enterprise to become more customized, which prerequisites are required and which problems enterprises should anticipate and prepare for. These questions are important, given that strategic change is challenging, and can take considerable time to accomplish; it therefore needs to be based on the right decisions. This study is motivated by the fact that the markets SMEs are selling to tend to become more and more complex and harder to anticipate. Increased globalisation and use of IT and ICT have lead to greater uncertainty in customer demand. At the same time customers have ever more demanding needs and specifications; if these are not met, they will go elsewhere rather than reducing or adapting them. This complexity requires a more customized production and is a way to gain commercial advantages.       Customised production includes many benefits such as reduced uncertainty, by producing totally customized products less capital bound is tied up. But meanwhile many challenges such as reduced production efficiency, furthermore flexibility must be increased and higher demands on communications and IT systems are often necessary. The study starts with a wide and thorough theoretical overhaul around the movement of the CODP, but also addresses other parts of the organization to get the all-important big picture. This theoretical work is leading to a work-model which is used in six interviews within SMEs. In order to get a thorough picture, the enterprises that take part in the study are from different line of business and have from 18 to 235 employees. During these interviews, conducted on a single occasion per company, the model and related questions are discussed. Thereby an analysis of the interviews and the theory is done, with the model as the starting-point.   The result of this study is a basic model, which SMEs can use as an analytical tool, and a checklist, to facilitate a move towards a make-to-order manufacturing strategy, thereby gaining more flexibility. The study provides a basic generic framework which can be adapted and tailored by the company in question to see which parts are relevant to specific circumstances.

<p>^{With the advent of globalisation driving the People.s Republic of China to embrace its future,}^{the local government has shown great enthusiasm promulgating one of the oldest industries.}^{Foreign higher educational providers that operate in China through the mode of joint venture}^{cooperatives between a Chinese and foreign institution of higher learning are becoming}^{increasingly .knowledgeable-hungry. public or private universities and colleges. Such}^{operations commonly known as Sino-foreign educational cooperatives}</p><p>^(SFEC)^{, are hotly}^{spawned on the mainland, enrolling Chinese students through the division of responsibilities,}^{roles and resources. The Chinese party is mostly responsible for the hardware support,}^{supplying facilities and logistics as the part of the bargain, whereas the foreign party provides}^{the intellectual software of academic programs.}^{The locus of this qualitative study aims to present and investigate a distinct phenomenon of}^{learning in SFEC through the theories of sociocultural perspective encumbered in a transitional}^{context; Sino-foreign}^(SF)^{graduates to other workplace communities. Without common}^{interests of social interaction, co-participation, and transformation, SFEC are often discredited}^{due to various factors. The learning aims will feature participative and transformative themes}^{that feature qualitative and interpretive methods. Thus, this research involves interviewing four}^{relevant participants from the likes of two Chinese nationals and two non-Chinese, and how}^{they view learning in SFEC applied to a transitional context, the workplace.}^{My furtherance of analysis will generally stress learning, co-participation and transformative}^{learning in activities that circumvents discriminatory elements of artifacts, identity profiling,}^{relationships, commitment and workplace employment for the necessary transition. In the}^{initial research phase, it did seem that putting learning into community practice in China was}^{essential. In the closing stages, thoughts will flow to the legitimisation of participative and}^{transformative learning, which forms the backdrop of this original theme of research gathered}^{through previous works of similar purview. Prawatt and Floden (1994) remark that knowledge,}^{and the belief that knowledge is the result of social interaction and language usage, and thus is}^{a shared, rather than an individual, experience. Presumably, my chosen theories frame the}^{interactive and shared communal nature of the Chinese society and learning systems.}</p> / na

With the ultimate goal of illustrating the ways that queer youth employ change and act as agents of self-representation, this project examines the relationship between the It Gets Better Project, a queer adult project focused upon ‘bettering‘ the lives of their younger generation, and the Make it Better Project created in response by queer youth. This thesis addresses the following questions: How do adult conceptualizations of queer youth as vulnerable victims operate within discourses that employ queer youth as agents of change? In what ways do queer youth grapple with such conceptualizations? Furthermore, how might queer youth actively resist adult narratives of risk, vulnerability, and surveillance? Seeking to not only examine the ways in which queer youth negotiate adult narratives of adolescent risk and vulnerability, this project is organized to highlight the ways in which queer youth understand and experience their own representational and performative narratives, particularly when performed in response to adult narratives. In examination of the “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” (2010a) and “It Gets Better: President Barack Obama” (2010c) vlogs of the It Gets Better Project, this thesis seeks to uncover the ways that assimilationist goals of inclusion, tolerance, and equality impact the intelligibility of queer youth. As a means for which to explore the possible resistance employed to counter such silencing mechanisms, the examination turns to three youth-produced vlogs of the Make it Better Project. An additional intent of the focus on the “LGBTQ Youth Speak Out”, “Make it Better Project” and “Make it Better Project - You Can Make it Better Now!” vlogs is to construct a space to analyze the complex and fluid dynamics of queer youth communities. With focus given to the various mechanisms employed by the adult and youth performers of these particular vlog-narratives, this project constructs an interdisciplinary framework of new social movement theory, new online media studies, queer theory, quare (queer of color) studies, feminist sociolinguistics, and critical youth studies as a means to position queer youth voices at the forefront of discussion. With the goal of continuing research that represents queer youth as agents of their own experiences, bodies, lives, and identities, it is my hope that the framework provided by this examination will inspire future work that highlights and centers the voices of queer youth. / text

Après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, on peut observer une inflexion de l’usage de la couleur dans le cinéma hollywoodien. Trop artificielle, la couleur a été reléguée à ses débuts à des genres « irréalistes » (comédie musicale, western). Mais après la guerre, la couleur est utilisée dans des films montrant le quotidien de l’Amérique, et devient une nouvelle façon d’appréhender certaines questions contemporaines. La couleur n’est plus un ornement ou un perfectionnement superflu, elle est porteuse de sens, au même titre que les autres éléments de la mise en scène. Les couleurs vives et l’exacerbation de l’artifice sont désormais utilisées par certains cinéastes dans un autre but que le seul plaisir de l’image colorée : parfois avec ironie, voire un pessimisme sous-jacent. L’enjeu esthétique de la couleur au cinéma doit en effet être situé dans le contexte historique de l’après guerre. La dévalorisation de la couleur dans l’histoire de l’art est ancienne, celle-ci ayant souvent été associée depuis l’Antiquité au maquillage féminin et à l’illusion. Le cinéma hollywoodien des années cinquante modifie justement l’image de la femme : on passe de la femme mythifiée à des femmes de chair et de sang, plus sexualisées, et aussi à l’évocation des rapports sociaux du quotidien. À travers l’actrice, et la façon dont celle-ci manipule la couleur ou bien existe à travers elle, la couleur se libère des préjugés, et trouve son indépendance, à travers une libération de l’expressivité, et un refus du seul mimétisme. / After WWII, the treatment of color in Hollywood cinema takes a new turn. Because it was too artificial, color was at first relegated to "unrealistic" films (musicals, westerns, etc). But in the post-war period, a change took place, and color was used in films that showed the common life of America, and became a new way of understanding contemporary issues. Color is not anymore a superfluous ornament, nor a mere device to increase realism: it is meaningful, as meaningful as any other element of the « mise en scène ». The bright colors and the exacerbation of the artifice are used from that time by some of the film-makers in a different purpose from that of pure entertainment : sometimes with irony, and even an underlying pessimism. What is aesthetically at stake in color films must be considered in the post-war context. The depreciation of color in the history of arts is an ancient trend, and since Antiquity, color in art has often been associated to feminine makeup and illusion. Hollywood films of the fifties changed the archetypical image of women: there was a shift from the mythical woman to women of flesh and blood, overtly sexualized, which allowed a more thorough evocation of the everyday life social relations. Through the actress and her acting - the way she manipulates color, or find a way to exist through it –, color releases itself from prejudices, participate to a release of expressiveness, and serve a rejection of basic mimesis.

Industrialization of construction is a business strategy to significantly improve competitiveness. However, the organization structure of the construction firms needs to support the new production system. The knowledge on why and how this business development can be accomplished is scarce, both within academia and in business practice. This research seeks to fill this knowledge gap. The purpose of organization structure and the production system have is to coordinate the firm’s processes and control the work performing resources. Information is one of the most fundamental dimensions for steering and controlling the work. The different information types are determined by the firm’s product customization strategy and the production system flexibility. Further, diverse information types are managed in different extent by the organizational steering mechanisms. Consequently, firms with dissimilar customization strategy or production flexibility should organizationally be designed differently in order to be efficient. The developed model identifies four generic production topologies: “engineer-to-order” (ETO), “manufacture-to-order” (MTO), “assembly-to-order” (ATO), and “make-standard-products” (MSP). The differences between the topologies can be related to the location of the “customer-order-decoupling-point” (CODP) in the product realization process; and to what extent the upstream and downstream processes continuously use stored information or process information to accomplish the work of each product order. The model predicts which organization structure mechanisms that should be used for which processes for each production topology. It is the specific configuration of the mechanisms that gives each production topology their organizational capability. The model has been validated by case studies in four organizations, each representing one of the four generic production topologies. Three cases considered housing and one studied truck manufacturing. It has been shown that the conventional housing firms have an ETO-production topology, while industrialized housing firms belonging to one of the others, i.e. MTO, ATO or MSP. The reason is that ETO-firms rely on crafts-based production to manage the work, while the other topologies base their steering mechanisms on industrial principles. These two types of production are fundamentally different, which also explain the need for different organization structures. The research complements previous knowledge and significantly increases the ability to predict, analyze and explain an organization’s design and behavior. The model can be used in practice to guide business development work and performance improvement programs. / <p>Research funder: SBUF (The development fund of the Swedish construction industry). QC 20131113</p>

Questa tesi consiste nella presentazione dei risultati di un sondaggio condotto in un istituto di prima infanzia si trova in un comune situato nella regione di Florianópolis / SC, nel corso del 2010. Lo studio ha lo scopo di descrivere e analizzare le varie minuzie della vita quotidiana nella professione di insegnante, mettendo in evidenza gli elementi di constituidores fanno fare gli insegnanti. Nel sondaggio cercato legami più stretti tra Pedagogia dell'Infanzia e Sociologia della vita quotidiana, alla ricerca di interfacce interdisciplinari come un modo per comprendere l'insegnamento nel corso della vita di tutti i giorni, e di contribuire alla costruzione di un punto di vista socio-pedagogico dell'infanzia e dell'educazione. I percorsi di indagine, seguendo le ipotesi della ricerca qualitativa mi hanno portato alla realizzazione di un approccio interpretativo, la creazione di un caso di studio. I docenti di questo istituto sono stati i miei interlocutori e mi hanno messo in evidenza, attraverso narrazioni orali, le dinamiche delle diverse routine fare facendo l'insegnamento. Io uso anche racconti scritti da uno degli insegnanti, messa a fuoco della ricerca, e ancora record in campo notebook basato sull'osservazione con la partecipazione al corso di un anno. La scelta di concentrarsi insegnante ha seguito alcuni criteri precedentemente elaborati, il cui requisito fondamentale era che erano un professionista di presentare un "insegnamento di successo". Il contributo principale di questo studio sta nel comprendere che l'azione riflessiva intorno alle varie minuzie della vita quotidiana, soprattutto per quanto riguarda far fare il giorno di insegnamento al giorno, permette di comprendere la complessità della vita vissuta in collettiva istituzione educativa. Hanno mostrato, inoltre, che le minuzie, intesi da alcuni insegnanti come attività didattiche e pedagogiche relative alla cura precoce e educazione - che guidano le dimensioni specifiche di insegnamento nell'educazione della prima infanzia - non sono visti come tali dalla istituzione più professionale. / A presente tese consiste na apresentação dos resultados de uma pesquisa realizada em uma instituição de educação infantil localizada em um município situado na região da Grande Florianópolis/SC, no decorrer do ano de 2010. O estudo teve como objetivo descrever e analisar as diferentes minúcias da vida cotidiana no exercício da docência, destacando os elementos constituidores do fazer-fazendo das professoras. Na pesquisa procurei estreitar os elos entre a Pedagogia da Infância e a Sociologia do Cotidiano, buscando interfaces interdisciplinares como forma de compreender a docência no decurso da vida cotidiana, e de contribuir na construção de uma perspectiva sociopedagógica de infância e de educação. Os caminhos investigativos, seguindo pelos pressupostos da pesquisa qualitativa, conduziram-me à realização de uma abordagem interpretativa, configurando-se um estudo de caso. As professoras da referida instituição foram minhas interlocutoras e me permitiram evidenciar, por meio de narrativas orais, a dinâmica das diferentes rotinas no fazer-fazendo da docência. Também utilizei narrativas escritas de uma das professoras, foco da pesquisa, e ainda registros em caderno de campo com base na observação com participação, no percurso de um ano. A escolha da professora foco seguiu alguns critérios previamente elaborados, cujo requisito essencial era o de que se tratasse de uma profissional que apresentasse uma “docência bem sucedida”. A principal contribuição deste estudo situa-se na compreensão de que a ação reflexiva em torno das diferentes minúcias da vida cotidiana, especialmente no que tange ao fazer-fazendo no dia a dia da docência, possibilita entender a complexidade da própria vida vivida no coletivo da instituição educativa. Evidenciou-se também que as minúcias, entendidas por algumas professoras como atividades educacional-pedagógicas relacionadas ao princípio de cuidado e educação - dimensões norteadoras da especificidade da docência na educação infantil -, ainda não são vistas como tal por grande parte das profissionais da instituição. / The present thesis is about the result presentations of a research held in an infantile education institution placed in a municipality in Florianópolis/SC in 2010. The study aims to describe and analyze different details of everyday life concern to teaching, highlighting the constitutor elements of make-making of teachers. In the research was tried to narrow the links between Childhood Pedagogy and Everyday Life Sociology, searching for interdisciplinary interfaces as a way to understand teaching along everyday life and to contribute in the construction of a childhood and education socio-pedagogy perspective. The investigative ways, following by the qualitative research presumptions have led to hold an interpretative approach, configuring a case study. The teachers from that institution were interlocutors and allowed proving, through oral reports, the different routine dynamics of make-making of teaching. It was also used written reports of one of the teachers, focus of the research, and also records in notebook based on observation with participation, along the year. The choice of the focused teacher followed some criteria previously elaborated and the essential requisite was that the professional had a “successful teaching”. The main contribution of this study is placed on the understanding that the reflexive action surrounded by detailed differences of everyday life, specially, concerned to make-making of teaching everyday life, allows understanding the complexity of life lived in the educative institution collectivity. It was evidenced also that the details, understood by some teachers as educational-pedagogical activities related to care and education principle – dimensions that lead to specific teaching in infantile education -, are still not seen as such for most professionals of the institutions.

The aim of this study work is the analysis of Fair Trade Products and activities in the Czech Republic. The analysis focuses on projects "Fair Trade Schools" and "Fair Trade Towns". The analysis includes an overview of other activities to support Fair Trade. The product analysis is directed to online stores and changes in the segment of chain stores.

Syfte: Syftet med rapporten var att bättre förstå vilka faktorer som har en inverkan på kapacitetsplaneringen samt de metoder som finns att tillgå gällande kapacitetsplanering. Utefter detta formulerades det tre stycken frågeställningar som studien avser att besvara: Vilka metoder inom kapacitetsplaneringen kan tillämpas i ett kundorderstyrt företag? Vad utmärker kapacitetsplaneringen i ett kundorderstyrt företag? Hur kan kapacitetsplaneringen förbättras utifrån fallföretagets nuvarande situation? Metod: För att besvara frågeställningarna och uppfylla studiens syfte valdes det att genomföras en fallstudie på Lindab Götene AB i Götene. Den första frågeställningen besvaras genom att identifiera relevant teori kring kapacitetsplanering och analysera dessa med empirin. Den andra frågan besvaras med hjälp av empirin där en nulägesanalys har genomförts som ger en inblick i fallföretaget samt den informationen om hur kapacitetsplaneringen tillämpas i fallstudieobjektet. Även här analyseras empirin med teorin. Den tredje frågan besvaras utifrån den analys och insamling av empiriskt material i nulägesbeskrivningen för att identifiera vad som kan förbättras angående kapacitetsplaneringen i en kundorderstyrd verksamhet. Den empiriska datan utgjordes utav intervjuer, dokumentstudier och observationer. Slutsats: I dagsläget sker kapacitetsplaneringen för hela företaget, författarna föreslår att fallföretaget tillämpar metoden kapacitetsbehovsprofiler då den möjliggör att planera kapaciteten per avdelning. Vilket skulle kunna ge en bättre uppfattning om hur beläggningen i produktionen ser ut utifrån fallföretagets förutsättningar. Ytterligare rekommendationer är att utföra tidsstudier för att säkerställa att korrekta operationstider finns tillgängliga som kapacitetsplaneringen baseras på för att inte över- eller underskatta graden av kapacitetsbehov. Uppföljning och återkoppling bör även göras för att se hur produktionen ligger till gentemot planeringen för att även skapa ett underlag för eventuella förbättringar som kan utföras, samt att skapa rutiner och se till att dessa följs. / Purpose: The purpose of the report was to achieve a greater understanding over which factors have an impact on capacity planning as well as the methods available regarding capacity planning. Along this, three questions were formulated that the study intends to answer: Which methods within capacity planning can be applied in a customer-managed company? What distinguishes a capacity planning in a customer-managed company? How can capacity planning be improved in the business case based on the current situation? Method: In order to answer the questions and fulfil the purpose of the study, it was decided to conduct a case study at Lindab Götene AB in Götene. The first question is answered by identifying relevant theory about capacity planning and comparing them with empiric materials. The second question is answered with the help of the empirics where a current situation analysis has been conducted that gives an insight into the case company and the information on how capacity planning is applied in the case study. The theoretical and empirical material are analysed as well. The third question is answered on the basis from the analysis and collection of empirical material in the current situation description to identify what can be improved regarding capacity planning in a customer-ordered business. The empirical data consisted of interviews, documentary studies and observations. Conclusion: Today the capacity plan is created for the whole company as one unit, the authors are suggesting that the business case applies the method capacity bills which makes it possible to plan capacity for each division. Thus, creating a better chance of understanding the current situation in the production. Further recommendations are such as conducting time studies to ensure that correct operational times are available which capacity planning is based on, this for not under- or overestimate the need of capacity. Follow-up and feedback should be done to see how the current situation of the production is against the production plan, also to create a ground for potential improvements that can occur. Creating routines and making sure that they are followed.