I denna kvalitativa intervjustudie belyses lärares syn på bemötande av elever inom musik- och kulturskolor. Syftet är att visa hur tre lärare resonerar om fenomenet bemötandet av enskilda elever inom musik- och kulturskolan samt på vilka sätt de ser något samband mellan bemötande och elevers musikaliska kunskapsutveckling. Datamaterialet består av intervjuer med tre musiklärare från olika musikskolor i Sverige. Studien utgår från hermeneutiskt perspektiv såsom förståelse och tolkning, och resultaten visar följande tre temata: Faktorer som påverkar bemötandet i undervisningssituationen, samband mellan lärarens bemötande och elevens utveckling samt musiklärares samtal om bemötande. I sista kapitlet diskuteras bland annat lärarnas upplevelse av att inte frågan om bemötande har vidrörts under musiklärarutbildningen. / This interview study describes music teachers’ views on treatment of pupils in music education in Swedish music and arts schools. The purpose of the study is to show how three music teachers talk about treatment of pupils in music education, and its impact upon student musical learning. Data consists of interviews with three music teachers from different music schools in Sweden. The study is based on hermeneutic perspective such as understanding and interpretation, and the result show the following five themes: Factors that impact the treatment in the classroom situation, connections between teacher treatment and student progression, and music teachers’ dialogue on treatment. In the last chapter, among other things, the teachers’ experiences of not having learnt about treatment during their teacher training are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate how adults 25 years old and over describe the functions of their non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and to explore whether they report any changes in their experience with NSSI as they become older. Qualitative e-mail interviews were used in order to capture the participants’ experiences. The results of the study were analysed based on coping theory and previous research. The results indicate that, consistent with previous literature, adults self-injure for mostly the same reasons as adolescents – however, as the previous research shows adolescents are more likely to hurt themselves in order to communicate with others. The adults in the present sample report using problem-solving coping strategies to the same extent as emotion-focused strategies; a slight deviation from previous research which has suggested that people who self-injure are more likely to employ emotion-focused strategies. The participants of the study generally experience a feeling of increased control and deliberation of their self-injury as they have gotten older; hurting themselves has become a purposeful coping strategy. The results of this study might have implications for treatment of self-injury in adults; focusing the treatment on strengthening the adults’ autonomy and encouraging further problem-solving coping strategies might be beneficial.

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This research evaluates the factors that caused unprecedented high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Chinese banks and the measures that have been taken to deal with them. In examining the surrounding issues recommendations are made, which might resolve or at least ameliorate China's non-performing loans problem. An extensive literature is drawn upon and a systematic examination of the factors that were responsible for China's NPLs is presented. The research aims and objectives, and the subsequent research themes were identified after conducting field research in Chinese banks. Six managers in Chinese banks were interviewed and their views on non-performing loans in their respective banks were obtained. These banks included: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the State and Development Bank and Citic Bank. The results of the interviews were used to design the questionnaire, which was distributed to 16 different banks. These banks are broadly representative of the main types of bank within China and include four state-owned commercial banks, seven joint-stock commercial banks, three foreign banks, one policy bank and one city commercial bank. Content analysis and descriptive statistical techniques were used to analyse the data and the findings revealed that lending managers generally lack adequate incentives to make efficient lending decisions. Moreover, although political interference in bank lending is quite widespread within China, it is not the only issue and certainly not the major issue in explaining why managers have a tendency to select inefficient projects. The measures taken to deal with NPLs in Chinese banking are also examined and the findings suggest that these have not been totally effective in resolving the problem.

Robots have been used in a variety of education, therapy or entertainment contexts. This thesis introduces the novel application of using humanoid robots for Robot-Mediated Interviews (RMIs). In the initial stages of this research it was necessary to first establish as a baseline if children would respond to a robot in an interview setting, therefore the first study compared how children responded to a robot and a human in an interview setting. Following this successful initial investigation, the second study expanded on this research by examining how children would respond to different types and difficulty of questions from a robot compared to a human interviewer. Building on these studies, the third study investigated how a RMI approach would work for children with special needs. Following the positive results from the three studies indicating that a RMI approach may have some potential, three separate user panel sessions were organised with user groups that have expertise in working with children and for whom the system would be potentially useful in their daily work. The panel sessions were designed to gather feedback on the previous studies and outline a set of requirements to make a RMI system feasible for real world users. The feedback and requirements from the user groups were considered and implemented in the system before conducting a final field trial of the system with a potential real world user. The results of the studies in this research reveal that the children generally interacted with KASPAR in a very similar to how they interacted with a human interviewer regardless of question type or difficulty. The feedback gathered from experts working with children suggested that the three most important and desirable features of a RMI system were: reliability, flexibility and ease of use. The feedback from the experts also indicated that a RMI system would most likely be used with children with special needs. The final field trial with 10 children and a potential real world user illustrated that a RMI system could potentially be used effectively outside of a research context, with all of the children in the trial responding to the robot. Feedback from the educational psychologist testing the system would suggest that a RMI approach could have real world implications if the system were developed further.

Background: Several nursing theorists emphasize the importance of establishing the so-called therapeutic relationship between the nurse and the patient in order to facilitate and provide better results of the treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how nurses working in out-patient psychiatric care describe the concept of therapeutic relationship and its usage when working with patients. Method: Semi structured interviews were performed and the material was analyzed through qualitative content analyzis. Result: Four main categories that describe the different aspects of the therapeutic relationship emerged. These were: What the nurse does to establish the therapeutic relationship, The functions and definition of the therapeutic relationship, The qualifications of the therapeutic relationship and Challanges in establishing the therapeutic relationship. Conclusion: The therapeutic relationship was described as a tool in working with the patient, and individualized treatment, trust, sufficient time and the use of one's own personality was described as important factors in establishing this relationship.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The United States Navy Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic community is a decentralized, multiorganizational, geographically distributed enterprise. Strategic planning and management, whether formal or ad hoc, is necessary for effective functioning of any organization. However, formal strategic planning is particularly difficult in multi-organizational, geographically diverse enterprises. Enterprise-wide performance measurement and a shared understanding of enterprise performance is necessary to devise compelling and effective strategies. During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy submarine force had a clear mission and compelling goals, with resulting clarity on performance metrics. The Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic workforce was focused on helping the submarine force achieve these goals. In the post-Cold War era, the submarine force mission in the integrated battle space is less defined. The percentage of the military budget that can be spent on discretionary spending is decreasing. The Submarine Hydrodynamics/Hydroacoustic community has been directly impacted by the recent lack of focus and budget reductions. The purpose of this thesis is to research the past processes used to perform strategic planning for the Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic community, identify current strategic issues for the community, and document strategic lessons learned that can be identified through the evaluation of product successes and failures. / Civilian, United States Navy

This paper presents the background, aim and results of a small empirical study conducted in the setting of a medical hospital library. The background is found both in the quality ambitions of the medical professions and organizations and in the effort of medical libraries to show their importance to the total quality of medical decision making. As a first step in the library's quality process, the aim has been to identify quality performance indicators of value to library users in their contact with a medical hospital library. The second step- to identify satisfaction levels - is not included in this work. Another aim has been to compare the quality categories in this small study with the generally accepted quality categories that emerged in the comprehensive studies of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in which customers express their expectations and perceptions of services. This study is based on a small number of interviews with representatives from different user groups within a hospital. The analysis is inspired by phenomenography which build on perceptions of phenomena - in this case the phenomenon "quality". In the material from the interviews five quality categories were identified. Compared to generally accepted quality categories from the service sector none of these five categories were unique. Important conclusions were that despite the homogeneity of the user group, expectations and needs are different and vary from time to time. Consequently flexibility and individual treatment of library users are crucial if the library is to meet user expectations. But the material also shows that despite access to modern technology users have very traditional perceptions of the library seeing the library as a room. If libraries were to let only user expectations initiate changes, it would lead to stagnation. It is not realistic to rely only on the knowledge or interest of the users.

För att kunna sträva efter en hållbar utveckling och lämna över en god miljö till nästa generation krävs ett samordnat arbete kring de källor som utgör påverkan på naturen och miljön. Jordbruket är en sektor som påverkar naturen och miljön genom dess näringsläckage till mark och vatten.  För att minska näringsläckaget krävs styrmedel som har till syfte att effektivisera för ett mer hållbart jordbruk. Greppa Näringen är ett tyrmedel i Sverige som startades som ett projekt för att stoppa framförallt utlakning av kväve från svenska åkermarker. En bättre förståelse av vad som ligger bakom lantbrukares val att inte ansluta sig till Greppa Näringen är avgörande för att kunna designa ett optimalt program anpassat för lantbrukarna. Denna studie har genomförts utifrån kvalitativa intervjuer för att identifiera faktorer och bakomliggande aspekter som ligger till grund för att lantbrukare inte väljer att ansluta sig till Greppa Näringen. Fem lantbrukare har intervjuats och de faktorer som har identifierats är kunskap, engagemang, tid, förtroende, påverkan utifrån och ekonomi. De mest betydande aspekterna som lantbrukarna nämnde var att verksamheten inte är relevant för Greppa Näringen (kunskap), att lantbrukarna har prioriterat annat inom verksamheten (engagemang och tid) samt att lantbrukarna inte tar till sig den informationen som Greppa Näringen ger ut (engagemang). Faktorerna ekonomi och påverkan utifrån har endast nämnts av en lantbrukare. / n order to strive for a sustainable development and hand over a good environment to the next generation, a coordinated work requires on the point- sources that has great impact on nature and the environment. The agriculture is a sector which has great impact on nature and the environment through its leaching of nutrients to soil and water. To reduce the leakage of nutrients, a set of instruments is required. Instruments, which aim to improve the efficiency of a more sustainable agriculture. Greppa Näringen is an instrument in Sweden that started as a project to mainly stop the leaching of nitrogen from Swedish arable land. A better understanding of what is behind farmers' decision not to participate in Greppa Näringen is crucial to be able to design the most ideal program adapted for the farmers. This study has been conducted from qualitative interviews to identify the factors and underlying aspects that explain why farmers choose not to participate in Greppa Näringen. Five farmers were interviewed and the factors that have been identified are, knowledge, commitment, time, trust, influence from the society and economy. The most commonly mentioned aspects were; that the farm is not of relevance for Greppa Näringen (knowledge), that farmers have prioritized other things within the farm (commitment and time) and also that farmers do not adopt information from Greppa Näringen, even though it is presented to them (commitment). The factors economy and influence from the society has only been mentioned by one of the farmers.

Scholarly work on international mediation suggests that how third parties mediate influences the resolution of armed conflicts. However, our understanding of what explains mediator style is limited. This dissertation addresses this gap by offering the first systematic study on explanations for mediator styles at the level of the individual. It explores the research question: what explains mediator styles of individuals mediating for peacemaking organizations in armed conflicts? Mediator style is studied as themes in goals and behaviors along two dimensions: directiveness and orientation. Directiveness covers a mediator's use of leverage and varies from non-directive to directive, while orientation covers a mediator's prioritized type of outcome and varies from relationship-oriented to settlement-oriented. The dissertation develops a theoretical framework on the effects of conflict context and mediator characteristics on mediator style. It formulates a set of theoretical expectations concerning how context in the form of conflict intensity, and characteristics such as the mediator's background profile and personality, influence mediator style. The framework is evaluated and developed based on the findings of a mixed-method design combining a survey experiment and 46 semi-structured in-depth interviews with a broad variety of IGO and NGO mediators. The results on context suggest that high-intensity conflicts make mediators on average more directive than low-intensity conflicts as a result of heightened humanitarian concerns. Furthermore, on characteristics, high-profile mediators are shown to be overall more settlement-oriented than low-profile mediators as a result of their views on conflict causes and mediator accountabilities. These findings are complemented with evidence for contingent relationships between conflict intensity, mediator personality and directiveness as well as conflict intensity, mediator profile and orientation. The study thus contributes with a refined understanding of the mediator styles of international mediators that both facilitates its further scholarly exploration and provides input to the practice of peacemaking.