Bourdieu, the French sociologist, proposed some significant concepts (e.g., habitus, capital and field) to help to explain how social agents play roles in social occurrences. Among his theories, Bourdieu’s trilogy of economic capital, social capital and cultural capital has now been used as a powerful theoretical framework to explain class reproduction and education equity. Over the past decades, his theories have begun to be introduced and recognized in Chinese academic world. And this research attempts to see whether this western theory works in the Chinese educational context. Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China, has a huge migrant population. Limited by the unique Chinese hukou system, the migrant population in Chinese big cities mostly faces a challenging situation to ensure their children’s local educational opportunities, especially during the compulsory education levels. However, the past research only focused on its disadvantaged subgroup, i. e. the migrant worker population while ignoring the vast diversity in their economic, social and cultural capitals among this general population. Therefore, this research, by means of a comparative multiple case study, aims to see how parents’ economic, social and cultural capitals help to win their children’s educational opportunities at elementary education level. Studying three typical migrant families with distinguishable strong, medium and weak capitals, the research finds the specific paths how the parents respectively use their economic, social and cultural capitals to obtain more educational opportunities for their children, and eventually produce the divide in educational outcomes, school segregation and social stratification. The research extends its discussion with characteristics of parent capitals, redefinitions of educational opportunities, and an unexpected minor theme about full-time mother. At the end of the dissertation, it can be concluded that Bourdieu’s trilogy of economic, social and cultural capital does work in Chinese educational context. And it indeed helps us to see more clearly what is happening in present China at a transitional age and calls for service and help to the disadvantaged migrant families in Chinese cities.

The food industry faces many challenges in its sustainability work, and consumers demand that companies in the food industry should increase their transparency. For the food industry to be more transparent, it must improve its traceability throughout the supply chain. Previous research let us know that traceability is not a new thing, but the way that new technologies such as blockchain revolutionize the way data can be communicated. Many companies have just started to use this to trace the supplies along their supply chain and are not using the data collected in the most efficient way. Therefore, this thesis presents data from two illustrative case studies to show the opportunities and challenges of using blockchain traceability technology. The opportunities show the benefits of being the first mover in the market to create new boosts for the products together with increasing consumer loyalty through more transparency. This paper also concludes that it's expensive to implement new technology in the supply chain and challenging to encourage consumers to make a local, organic, or sustainable choice despite the higher cost of the products.

Although this project refers to theory and literature about giftedness and independent learning, it is based primarily on narratives of classroom experience. The key belief is that the best way to build on the strengths and meet the needs of adolescent gifted learners is for the teachers involved to create a classroom learning climate and curriculum which coaches those students towards independent learning. Such a climate and curriculum provide opportunities for gifted adolescents to reach their potential. An adaptable and practical three-stage model for designing such a curriculum is provided. By integrating self-and teacher assessment and evaluation throughout three stages of curriculum, the model provides opportunities for students to develop the skills necessary for independent learning. Three narratives of my own experiences in using the three-stage model outlined above are provided. The three situations include the role of classroom teacher of OAC English, co-author of a literature anthology and teacher resource for grade nine destreamed English classes, and facilitator of an Interdisciplinary Autonomous Learner programme for gifted/highly able adolescent learners. Thus, the three-stage curriculum model has been used and shown to be effective. My own, and my students' experiences in using the model, and the common ground discovered in all three roles, form the basis of the recommendations being made in the final chapter. Practical recommendations are made to teachers who are interested in implementing a curriculum which promotes independent learning for gifted adolescents. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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In this paper it is investigated the role that geothermal energy could play in theenergy mix, to meet new system requirements. As any other source, geothermal energy harnessing implies a number of risksmainly related to induced seismicity and landslides, together with the releaseof as greenhouse gases and metal salts. Moreover, important barriers to itsimplementation still exist, mainly concerning financial aspects and drillingoperations. As well, administrative status is uncertain and related investmentin R&D negligible. However, geothermal energy presents important advantages in relation toother energy sources, as its reliability and large capacity factor, comparable tonuclear and natural gas plants. It could help to reduce both the globalwarming, whose potential is up to 5 times lower than in the case of fossilfuels, and the landuse, the lowest of any power plant. Additionally, in spite ofthe high and risky initial investment, energy produced by geothermal means is amongst the cheapest. The geothermal potential is large enough to substantially contribute to theenergy mix, through locally available resources. Economic potential in Europeby 2050 is estimated in 100 – 4 000 TWheand 880–1 050 TWhth. Nevertheless, currently available technology strongly limits the access togeothermal resources. In addition, predictions about geothermal utilizationare modest and have hardly been achieved to date. The key for the future isthe development of the Engineered Geothermal Systems.

Digitalization has changed the business environment for all businesses, whether large or small. As the multitude of digital solutions for the business world continuously develop and evolve, investigating how companies can better take advantage of digitalization is crucial for gaining and retaining competitive advantage. The current research field regarding digitalization is rather novel and has been heavily focusing on how digitalization can improve businesses, and which technical solutions may work best for companies. Thus, switching the focus and studying how companies can improve their digitalization presents an alternative perspective for the current research. As the research field has stressed the importance of studying digitalization within SMEs due to the lack of knowledge and know-how in smaller companies, we examine digitalization in the context of SMEs. In order to examine aspects that may be beneficial for digitalization, we chose to use entrepreneurial orientation as a lense. Entrepreneurial orientation considers a set of characteristics resulting in a level of entrepreneurship in all sizes of companies, and it is found to improve business performance. In order to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework regarding entrepreneurial orientation and digitalization, the following research question was formed: How is the digitalization of Swedish SMEs facilitated by Entrepreneurial Orientation? For gaining a comprehensive understanding on how digitalization is implemented to the business models of SMEs in Sweden, and how entrepreneurial orientation facilitates the implementation of digitalization, our theoretical framework is built upon three theories: entrepreneurial opportunities; digitalization; and entrepreneurial orientation. The construct used for observing entrepreneurial orientation consists of five elements: proactiveness, risk taking, innovativeness, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness. The study was conducted in Sweden through semi-structured interviews. The data was collected from small- to medium sized companies that all had implemented digitalization in their business models and were mature. The interviewees were all in managerial positions in the firms, either as CEOs or COOs. The semi-structured interviews resulted in rich data that provided us with insights in terms of digitalization, how digitalization is implemented to the business models of SMEs, and how the elements of entrepreneurial orientation play a role in this implementation. The results indicated that digitalization begins by making smaller changes to business models (e.g. adopting business systems). Gradually, the existing systems are completely replaced by digitalization, and the companies move on to exploring digitalization in terms of new products and services. In this process, entrepreneurial orientation has a facilitating effect through i.a. higher levels of risk taking, emphasis on being early in adopting new solutions, improved productivity and efficiency through innovativeness, and increased trust for employees to make decisions and to perform projects autonomously. The only element that did not show any clear indications in terms of digitalization was competitive aggressiveness, as SMEs do not use digitalization directly as a source of competitive advantage, but rather as a way to improve other aspects in their business models and thereby gain competitive advantage.

Innovation outside the company’s core business is essential for any company in a fast-changing environment. Companies that want to engage in strategic innovation in order to embrace emerging opportunities need ways of managing the innovation process. There is currently limited research on how to select among and evaluate innovation proposals for emerging opportunities in the context of intrapreneurship. This master thesis investigates how an incumbent high-tech company that promote intrapreneurship uses criteria in the selection process of innovation proposals. The study conducts an embedded single-case study of the case company, referred to as Company A, by collecting qualitative data through archival documents and 19 semi-structured interviews. The study uses Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation to analyse the results. Findings show that an incumbent high-tech company uses a set of criteria that is a mix of the previous findings in the context of new product development and external investors. The criteria utilized in the selection process are within the dimensions market and value, product and technology, operations and financials, corporate alignment, and team. The conducted interviews exposed that personal considerations constitute additional informal criteria for the evaluators, and much emphasis is put on the intrapreneur’s characteristics and presentation. Findings from the interviews suggest that criteria should be utilized less strict in the beginning of the process, which is supported by previous researchers. Criteria also contribute with transparency to the innovation process and can be used as guidelines for the innovator. Christensen’s theory contradicts the use of the criteria market size, corporate alignment and to validate the innovation with a customer because of the nature of emerging markets and technologies. / Innovation utanför företagets kärnverksamhet är viktigt för alla företag på en snabbt föränderlig marknad. Företag som vill satsa på strategisk innovation för att kunna ta tillvara på nya möjligheter behöver metoder för att kunna hantera innovationsprocessen. Detta examensarbete undersöker hur ett etablerat högteknologiskt företag som främjar intraprenörskap använder kriterier i urvalsprocessen att välja mellan olika innovationsförslag. Studien genomför en fallstudie genom att studera ett bolag, benämnt företag A, och samlar in kvalitativa data genom arkivdokument och 19 semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien använder Christensens teori om disruptiv innovation för att analysera resultaten. Resultaten visar att det studerade högteknologiska företaget använder ett antal kriterier som stöds av tidigare forskares resultat inom området produktutveckling och externa investerare. Kriterierna som identifieras i studien är inom dimensionerna marknad och värdeskapande, produkt och teknik, företagsverksamhet och ekonomi, hur väl innovationen passar företaget och team. Intervjuerna avslöjade att personliga överväganden utgör ytterligare informella kriterier för de som utvärderar, som lägger stor vikt på intraprenörens egenskaper och presentation. Resultaten tyder på att kriterierna bör användas mindre strikt i början av processen, vilket stöds av tidigare forskning. Kriterier bidrar också till insyn i innovationsprocessen och kan användas som riktlinjer för innovatören. Christensens teori stödjer inte användningen av kriterierna marknadsstorlek, hur väl innovationen passar företaget och att verifiera innovationen med en kund på grund av osäkerhet kring framväxande marknader och nya teknologier.

This degree project is a quantitative study of dialogues and speaking exercises in twelve EFL textbooks used in secondary schools in Sweden. The chosen textbooks are from the four textbook series Happy, Time, Whats’s Up? and Wings Base Book. The aim is to investigate if there is any over-representation of female or male characters in the textbook dialogues. We will be looking at four different typologies, namely the number of initiated dialogues, turns taken, number of characters and words used. Previous research concerning classroom interaction, scholastic performance, textbooks and textbook dialogues is included to provide some background into this area. The findings show over-representation exists in all the textbook series in various degrees of both female and male characters. This degree project maps the over-representation of female and male characters both in the four textbook series and the twelve individual textbooks. Our results will show that while a textbook series might over-represent one gender it does not necessarily mean that the individual textbook within that series over-represents the same gender. The findings make it clear that educators need to be aware of gender-biased textbook dialogues in order to be better equipped to ensure equal opportunities for all learners.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how educational documentations in systematic quality work are used in pre-school practice. What are the possibilities and limitations of the use of pedagogical documentation as an instrument in systematic quality work in pre-school practices? Referring to previous research, theory and empirical data collection, I was able to conduct this study. In the theoretical part, I made use of the constructionist learning perspective. In the empirical part, I used a qualitative research method with interviews and observation in order to gain understanding of the way pre-school teachers use pedagogical documentation in a learning perspective.The study shows that pedagogical documentation used in systematic quality work is associated with opportunities and difficulties. Participants described that pedagogical documentation provides opportunities for children to achieve their potential, and that it focuses on the individual needs of development. In other words, the benefit of using pedagogical documentation of systematic quality work became a tool for the educational quality in the operation. The teachers constantly have the ability to monitor, document and reflect on their work to ensure children's learning and development. This also creates opportunities for children to become active participants in the educational activities. Some of the difficulties are lack of time, children's group size and staff nonattendance. The study's participants also highlight that there is a need for increased staff competence in the use of technical educational tools.