Listening and presence are essential skills of co-creative group improvisation. The purpose of this project was to construct a series of spoken games and musical exercises with the goal of enhancing the players’ sense of interpersonal awareness in improvised music settings. The playing of these games encouraged the ear and mind to warm-up and tune in to both the musical intentions of the other players in the group, as well as the types of interaction and stimuli that might occur during improvised performance. By encouraging playfulness within the games, while simultaneously maintaining the freedom to diverge from these forms, environments of co-creation could be facilitated. These games and exercises have the flexibility to be used either as a warm-up during rehearsals, a primer for an improvised performance, or more directly as parts of compositions. In this, the project explores: how to create useful and challenging exercises, how adjusting the parameters of the challenge affected both the performers and the musical outcome, and finally, how to utilise these musical outcomes in a concert setting. As well as providing new approaches to musical direction and composition, the project has also led to personal growth in the form of noticeable developments in listening, presence, and interaction through utilising this approach in group improvisations.

Firms are reliant on a suitable fit between the firm and their business environment. Simultaneously environments globally become increasingly unpredictable, jeopardizing firms’ ability to develop and implement strategic directions to achieve a suitable fit. To tackle this challenge theorists call for increased flexibility in strategic processes by increasing strategic flexibility. However, the two concepts of strategy and flexibility work as opposing forces of change and stability. This study aims to explore the complex interplay between the two detached concepts in two large Swedish companies Saab and Ericsson. This paper embraces a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews combining deductive and inductive approaches to analyze the interplay between strategy and flexibility. Earlier theorists within strategic flexibility academia primarily focused on providing a resolution of definitional differences; therefore this study provides a new theoretical framework, comprised of a strategy as a plan approach combined with acknowledging strategic decisions in various intra-firm levels. Findings from this study indicate that firms should constantly consider four different trade-offs: decentralized versus centralized control, valuing short-term versus valuing long-term strategies, relying on individual experience versus planning to manage changes and product- versus market-driven strategies to achieve a beneficial interplay between strategy and flexibility.

The purpose of this project has been to develop the interplay between guitar and piano in a jazz ensemble context. There are a lot of great examples of interplay with these instruments but there are also well-known issues when guitar and piano share a musical context. Examples of these issues can be rhythmic, harmonic, register of the instruments, the time it takes for changes in the music to happen or the direction of the music. The project is based on exercises for guitar and piano as well as specific exercises for guitar.    I discuss the different challenges and opportunities that present themselves throughout the progress of the project and how the exercises I constructed affect the different aspects of interplay. The discussion is partially based on the result of my exam concert. I also debate whether the exercises have a big impact on the result or if there’s other factors to consider.    The conclusion is that the exercises are less important than the discussions and reflections that this project has led to. The project shouldn’t be seen as a solution but rather a reflection that can give insight on the subject. / <p>Medverkande: </p><p>Samuel Hanes (Elgitarr), Eskil Larsson (Tenorsaxofon), David Stener (Piano), Jakob Ulmestrand (Kontrabas), Henrik Jäderberg (Trummor).</p><p>Framförda verk: </p><p>Untitled 06, Sorry Tom, Slip-Up, Untitled 02, Trippy Tilly. </p>

<p> This dissertation investigated the importance of information from various sensory receptors on the perception of self-orientation. In five experiments, we systematically manipulated the relative orientation between the gravitational inertial forces and the body. </p> <p> The first experiment was originally designed to evaluate the effect of body inversion on the perception of straight-ahead. Interestingly, when participants were inverted, females presented a greater footward bias in the perception of straight-ahead than males. Two follow-up experiments revealed that whole-body rotation and altered blood-distribution could not explain the gender differences in the perception of straightahead. As a result, we attributed the gender differences in the perception of selforientation to differences in the use of afferent information from stable gravireceptors (i.e., otoliths). </p> <p> A fourth experiment examined the contribution of perceptual strategy to the perception of self-orientation. Once again, females exhibited a greater footward bias than males in the perception of straight-ahead. However, this bias was reduced slightly when female participants were instructed to focus on cues arising from inside the body. This finding indicates that, at least to some extent, strategy mediates gender differences in perceptual decision-making. </p> <p> The final experiment was designed to examine the importance of limb movement on the perception of spatial orientation. Five response modes were used to gradually increase the motor demands associated with perceptual judgments about self-orientation. This study was designed to test a theory of visual information processing (i.e., Milner & Goodale, 1995), which claims that the use of distinct visual processing modules depend on the motor demands of a visual perception task. Interestingly, we found that whole limb movements affect the perception of an egocentric illusion (i.e., oculogravic illusion; see Graybiel, 1952). </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The purpose of this study is to investigate how children's literature used at preschool, focusing on social interaction between the children ́s and between the children and the educators. Through interviews and observations at four preschools, we studied the way in which teachers and children made use of children's literature.We propose the following questions: In wich way does the preschool teachers using the children’s literature at preschoolin a verbally interaction? What is the purpose when the educators using the childrens’s literature? How is the children using the literture that exist at the preschoolin a social interaction? This study is based on a qualitative method with interviews, observations and audio recordings. Our theoretical approach to this study is the socio -Cultural perspectiveLearning and development by Lev Vygotsky. We will also use John Dewey, highlight the concept of experience.

Syftet med min studie är att bidra med kunskap kring hur man kan samverka mellan förskola och socialtjänst gällande barn som far illa. Min studie är utförd med kvalitativa intervjuer med verksam personal inom förskoleverksamheten och socialtjänsten. Jag intervjuade en förskollärare, en förskolechef och en specialpedagog inom förskoleverksamheten samt två socialsekreterare på barn - och familjeenheten på socialtjänsten. Mina intervjufrågor handlade om vilka erfarenheter de har av att samverka tillsammans samt tillvägagångssätten från att upptäcka oro för ett barn till att det görs en anmälan. Resultatet visar på att det håller på att det utarbetas en större grad av samverkan mellan de olika professionerna. Samt att de olika yrkesprofessionerna uttrycker att de vill ha en mer kontinuerlig kontakt och samverkan med varandra för att de anser att detta gynnar barnets och familjen bästa.  Mitt resultat visar även på att förskolepersonalen anser att det är en jobbig del av arbetet att göra en anmälan. De känner sig ofta osäkra på om de tecken som de ser är befogade nog till att göra en anmälan eller inte. Socialsekreterarna lyfter vikten av att göra en anmälan, de menar på att minsta misstanke på att ett barn far illa ska anmälas. De menar även att det inte är förskolans ansvar att avgöra om det är befogat eller inte, utan alla misstankar är befogade. De lyfter även att det inte är förskolans uppdrag att utreda, utan att det är socialtjänstens ansvar. / The purpose of my study is to provide knowledge on how to collaborate between preschool and social services regarding child abuse. My study is designed with qualitative interviews with staff working in early childhood education and social service. My interview questions were about their experiences of collaborating together regarding concern for a child. The results in my study shows that a bigger development between preschool and social service is being developed and the staff within the various professions want a more continuous contact and interaction with each other. They believe that this will benefit the child. My results also show that the preschool staff believes that it is a difficult part of the work to make a report to the social service. They often feel uncertain about the things they see are legitimate enough to make a report or not. Social workers highlight the importance of making a report, they argue that the slightest suspicion that a child is mistreated should be notified. They also believe that it is not the preschool staff responsibility to determine whether it is justified or not. They think that all suspicions are justified. They also highlight that there are the social workers responsibilities to investigate not the preschool workers.

Whipping creams are oil-in-water emulsion which by whipping can be formed to a foam by the incorporation of air into the system. Traditionally whipping creams are made out of milk but today imitation whipping creams based on vegetable fat has gained a large share of the marked due to their many benefits compared to traditionally whipping creams. Imitation whipping creams are both cheaper and more flexible than traditionally creams. By vary the characteristics of the fat system and the cream recipe the properties of the imitation creams can be adapted to fit the purpose of a specific product. The aim of this thesis was to increase the understanding of how different types of fat systems and other ingredients affect the properties of imitation whipping creams based on vegetable fat. This was done by studying three vegetable fat systems with different physicochemical properties. The properties of the fat systems were characterized and the three fat systems were then used for making different imitation whipping creams. The properties of the creams were characterized and the properties of the fat systems and the creams were assessed and compared with each other. The study showed that the fat characteristics that generally seem to have the highest impact on the properties of whipping creams are the structure, the solid fat content and the crystallization temperature of the fat. A fat solution with a hard structure, a high crystallization temperature and a high solid fat content at a wide range of temperatures overall seem to provide the whipping creams with the best properties. This as these fat properties provide the creams with a high foam stability, a high overrun and a short whipping time. This study has also shown that other ingredients than the fat systems provide the creams with diverging properties. This is best shown by the results of the freeze-thaw stability which indicate that a recipe with a high amount of sugar seem to provide the whipping creams with good freeze-thaw stability. Other properties of the whipping creams also seem to be very much influenced by other ingredients than the fat systems but further studies are needed to provide clarity to the complexity of the interplay of the ingredients in whipped creams.

The purpose with my essay was to investigate how genre pedagogy works in a practical manor? I wanted to reach a deeper understanding for the genre pedagogy and to find out if it fits all students. To investigate this issue I have asked following questions:What is genre pedagogy?How do teachers work with different genres in the genre pedagogy?For whom is the genre pedagogy?Is the critic right that Frøydis Hertzberg is proposing about the genre pedagogy formalism? I have been using qualitative methods, to gather my empirical data. I have been using two unstructured interviews and one unsystematically observation, in a third grade class in a school south of Stockholm, with 30% second language students. I have also been watching several episodes about genre pedagogy at Utbildningsradions website and analyzed them. I have among others been using Gibbon’s book Scaffolding Language scaffolding Learning and Johansson Sandell Ring’s book (Let the language carry) I have also been using reports from the Swedish school ministry. In this way I have gathered interesting facts about how teachers educate in practice and how the interaction is. Genre pedagogy is about how the teacher together with the students finds subject knowledge and the text structure by speaking about the language with a so called Meta language and practical activities. The teacher part is to clarify the functional grammar and to give the tools so that the student will progress in his/ her writing skills and subject knowledge. The tutoring is presented so that the teachers part is to be supportive in the beginning when the students knowledge is being built up to gradually, when the student has the knowledge, to let the student do the task more and more by it self. There are critics aimed against the genre pedagogy that the student’s creativity and personal writing disappears. By my observation and analyses of the material from Utbildningsradions website, (UR.se) I have gotten a result that shows that the student text is written in the same structure as the template text, but there is space for their own imagination. One of the conclusions is that genre pedagogy fits most students, if the education is flexible and sometimes individualized.

Sweden is a multicultural country and because of this the Swedish school-system should be adapted so that all pupils can develop their linguistic skills so that they can participate andunderstand the education. By using scientific work from other researchers and my own experiences from a general point of view, I noticed that pupils with foreign origin perform less good in mathematics than pupils with Swedish origin, in the Swedish education system. The purpose of this research is to find out if communication and interplay between the pupils makes it easier for them to understand mathematics and its’ concepts. My research involves acertain school class were all pupils have another etnicity then the Swedish one. My aim was to find out if the pupils reached the knowledge-goals for mathematics in the third grade. Especially in the areas of solution solving and the understanding of mathematical texts. I wanted to find out if communication and interplay between the pupils lead to increasedprogress in the Swedish language and increased understanding of mathematical texts. I also examined what possibilities the pupils have to absorb and understand the education and how favourable the conditions are in their teaching process. My starting points were Vygotskijs’ sociocultural perspective. The main research questions were: Is the language a barrier for the pupils in my research group when they develop their mathematical knowledge? Which approach may enhance the pupils knowledge in mathematics? The research is based on interviews with the teacher and observations of the pupils during mathematic lessons. With the help of the empirical material I wanted to increase myunderstanding about the process of learning and development in the class and about how the teacher labours and reflects around the situation. She practiced silent and individual studies in the class. The result of this research showed that the pupils were not benefited by the teachersmethods and that they did not reach the main goals in Swedish and mathematics for the earlier years in Swedish compulsory school. The reason to this result is mainly that language and learning go hand in hand and that mathematics requires a good vocabulary and good reading comprehension.

Philosophers, psychologists, and authors have long pondered the question of whether others’ expectations or one’s own self-views are more important in determining behavior and personality. Researchers have designated these two processes behavioral confirmation and self-verification, respectively, and the interaction of these processes is often referred to as identity negotiation. Little research has examined the process of identity negotiation during adolescence, a period during which individuals are attempting to forge unique identities. Therefore, the primary purpose of the present studies was to examine the identity negotiation process during adolescence. In Study 1, I examined whether adolescents (11-15 years of age) solicit self-verifying feedback. Adolescents first completed a measure of self-perceptions and then selected whether to receive positive or negative feedback from an unknown peer in areas of perceived strength and weakness. Adolescents desired feedback congruent with their own self-views; those with higher self-esteem tended to request more positive feedback than those with lower self-esteem. Further, adolescents were more likely to seek negative feedback regarding a self-perceived weakness than a self-perceived strength. In Study 2, I examined the joint operation of behavioral confirmation and self-verification in dyadic interactions among unacquainted adolescents. One member of each dyad (the target) completed a measure of self-perception. The second member of each dyad (the perceiver) was provided with false information regarding the attractiveness of their partner. I compared whether targets’ self-views or perceivers’ expectations of them were stronger determinants of behavior. Self-verification strivings were evident in these interactions; targets’ self-views influenced the perceivers’ final evaluations of their partners. Support for behavioral confirmation was lacking in same-sex dyads and dyads composed of male perceivers and female targets. Appearance based expectations influenced target behavior in dyads composed of female perceivers and male targets. The current findings suggest that adolescents’ self-views are important determinants of behavior. Significant implications for adolescent mental health and peer selection are discussed. / text