Taiwanese bridal photography is a unique practice with the goal to produce images of fantasy styles ahead of the wedding. Chosen images are displayed at the wedding banquet for the guests to admire and later used as decoration in the house of newlyweds. This visual phenomenon is interesting in that people actively take part in the creation and consumption of visual commodity and it is connected to

This thesis is an analysis of contemporary Manga Culture in Japan and Sweden. The objective of the study was to identify the potential and problems for Manga culture and its future in the international market. Also I try to examine the potential of Manga to establish its academic status. This research will be based on the analysis of the transition and features of Manga related with Japanese cultu

Since culture has been changing over the time in all of the societies, the notions of gender and sex-role stereotypes as two of the constitutive parts of culture have been altering as well; due to the development of contemporary movements such as feminism and gender-related discourses. Nevertheless, because of different social environments and different rituals and values the development pace and

This thesis examines the impact of Guerrilla Gardening and Guerrilla Knitting (also known as Yarn Bombing) in and on the city. Examining definitions and distortions of the notions of ‘the vandal’, ‘the activist/craftivist’ and ‘guerillaisms’ that are made via these movements illustrates an expanding notion of the ‘urban dweller’. Tackled in terms of approaches, public and situationist theory, the

Disadvantaged groups, defined in this study as senior citizens, illiterate persons, physically, mentally and culturally challenged individuals, are a concern for the whole society. Signage for disadvantaged groups is presented differently worldwide. They are indicating different kinds of information, presented in different ways, emphasizing different disadvantaged groups in different countries. Th

The paper is a critical revision of the sufficiency of sustainability reporting frameworks to represent sustainability performance. The paper sustains that while frameworks facilitate recording, classifying, and summarizing sustainability data (i.e. economic, social and environmental), they are insufficient to represent organizational sustainability performance. Using Systems Theory and systems pr

The aim of this study was to investigate if highly hypnotizable individuals are more easily emotional contagion opposed to low hypnotizable ones. The participants were shown pictures of happy and angry male faces while facial muscle activity was measured by EMG over the Zygomaticus Major (smiling muscle) and the Corrugator Supercilii (frowning muscles). The hypothesis was that highly hypnotizable

This thesis explores how transaction costs affect the optimality of hedging when using Black-Scholes option pricing model. Further, a number of models developed to improve the hedging results of Black-Scholes, when accounting for transaction costs, are analysed and compared. To numerically evaluate these strategies, extensive Monte-Carlo simulations are generated and the results of the strategies

Widespread abuse of labour rights, leading to poor working conditions, is a major problem in many developing countries. Pressure from civil society has led international buyers to set up corporate codes of conduct (CoCs) and monitoring mechanisms, in order to ensure that labour rights are respected by their suppliers in these countries. However, research has shown that these efforts have been mode

During the last three decades, there has been a growing interest in the role of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) as engines of economic development and pro-poor growth. In Bolivia, MSEs are the main source of employment but have alarmingly low levels of productivity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to seek for an explanation of the relevance of MSEs´ growth in the Bolivian context as we

Being a global health concern, unintentional injuries are a burden of the developing world. Using a cross-sectional (survey) design with quantitative analysis of the data collected from 1928 households in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this study explored the influence of sex/gender roles, age and household well-being on non-fatal unintentional injuries among children under 18 years old in a low-income

African cooperatives are in the process to adapt to a liberalised economy where they are expected to function as independent business entities. So is also the case in Uganda where the competition on the free market puts pressure on cooperative performance. This thesis asks the question why some cooperatives fail in this context while others succeed and tries to find the answer in the organisationa

The Bunong indigenous minority who live in the North-East of Cambodia have experienced rapid change in the last decade. With the arrival of commercialised society has come the development agenda, which has sought the participation of minorities, but with only limited success. Using Long’s concept of ‘interface analysis’, the purpose of this study is to examine how cultural change has effected Buno

The project “ETT-Modular system for timber transport” investigates the possibilities of making logging shipments more effective, decrease their fuel consumption and road wear without compromising traffic safety. As part of this project a timber vehi-cle, the ETT-vehicle, that pulls four piles of timber, is 30 metres long, and has a gross combination weight of 90 tons, is tested on a distance betwe

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the length of the maturity profile of a firm’s debt has any implications for the capital structure. Theoretical perspectives: A deductive approach, using econometric methodology to examine the correlation ( if any) between the selected variables, and the significance (if any) of that correlation. The output of our econometric model is f

In the context of a global surge in attention towards reducing neonatal mortality in developing countries, this study explores how mothers in the Southern Province of Zambia describe their behavior to prevent and care for neonatal illnesses, and how this behavior is related to their beliefs on neonatal illness causation. Using an anthropological approach that is based on Kleinman’s (1980) local He

This study aimed at understanding perceptions of local water users concerning equitable management of small multipurpose reservoirs in Northern Ghana. Furthermore, its aim was to compare these perceptions with the concept of equitable management promoted by development projects, which stress creation of new institutions – Water User Associations (WUA) – for the equitable management to be achieved.

The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of land grabbing from orphans by investigating the institutions governing orphans’ land rights. The questions that guided the research dealt with the formal and informal institutions governing orphans’ land rights, the major factors affecting orphans’ land rights, and what constitutes a legitimate claim on land for orphans. The field work

Increasing evidence on impacts from climate change an variability, suggests that poor rural communities in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa need to adapt in order to reduce effects on their livelihoods. In semi-arid areas characterized by high poverty, small reservoirs even though most of them are performing below average, act as important assets that support a wide range of livelihoods. However, in t

This thesis is a case study on community-based water management and increased access to water through rainwater harvesting in rural Jordan. It also considers how women gain benefits through rainwater harvesting and their participation in community-based water management. Based on a holistic framework that merges community-based water management and water demand management, we examined Bayoudah vil