Textbooks are a very influential medium considering the fact that they often introduce students to information they have never read or heard about before, and as such they become very important in forming students? opinions on different matters. In this study I have taken a closer look at five textbooks in history that are currently being used in the Swedish upper secondary school. My aim has been to find out how East Asia is pictured and also how much space East Asian history is given in these textbooks with the postcolonial theory as theoretical basis. My study shows that East Asia is given very little space compared to Europe in these books, with an average of less than a twentieth of the number of pages that deal with European history.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a versatile wireless technology usedworldwide. The fields of applications are many and its popularity constantlygrows due to smaller in size, better and less expensive components. RFID isused to identify, track or share information about an object using radio waves.This master thesis describes the process of designing and implementing ahandheld UHF RFID reader. The goal was to, based on a UHF RFID-chipdesign a fully functional, small in size and power efficient device. Amicrocontroller provides the user interface and is also used to control theRFID-chip and a Bluetooth device.

BackgroundIncreased prevalence of obesity in children- and young adults and risk for diseases related to obesity will increase the burden on medical care. It is important to identify early risk factors that can be noticed by nurses in the daily work.AimThe aim was to investigate whether children- and young adults themselves perceive overweight as a problem and if there was a difference in the measured activity levels between overweight children- and young adults in families with different socio-economic family status.Method descriptionExisting survey from the Obesity Centre at the Akademiska Sjukhuset were examined together with the results from an accelerometer, where children- and young adults activity was recorded, compared to their perception of how active they were. The results were compared using a statistical software program and compiled with descriptive and non-parametric statistics.ResultsThe results do suggest that the majority of children- and young adults experiencing excessive weight have a problem in their everyday lives. Nearly half overestimate themselves as more active than what the actual measurements with accelerometer demonstrated. Much time is spent in front of the TV and computers.

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to examine if and how the teachers from a multicultural International School work with intercultural pedagogy. The school in question isprofiled and consists of both Swedish- and English classes. The study examines if and how the teachers related to the great variety of cultures and created opportunities for integration between the students and handling with values at school. It is important to be aware as a teacher to be able to take an active part in working towards a school that gives possibilities for different cultures to meet. If this is neglected, it may increase the risk of problems and cultural clashes between the students.

SummaryAim and research questionsThe purpose of the study is to examine how physical education (PE) teachers can work to increase young people?s interest in physical education but also physical activity in general.- How can PE teachers work to increase student?s interest in physical activity?- Does PE teachers believe that the student?s interest for sports is achieved according to the educations curriculum and in that case, how?- What problems can PE teachers encounter in their efforts to get young people motivated for physical activities during PE classes?MethodPrior to implementation of the study i reviewed on a lot of past research and got interested about the problem with unmotivated students. After this I looked for different theories that I could use for my study and settled with the KASAM theory by Aaron Antonovsky. The method applied in this study was a qualitative interview method. The aim was to find out how teachers work to motivate their students to be physically active and wanting to participate in PE classes.

This Master?s thesis is one of two parts of a combined project called Sustainable development around the Lake Victoria, the purpose of which is to investigate the importance of local anchoring and active participation in the work towards sustainable development. The present study aims to investigate whether men and women are empowered by the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) process promoted in their villages by the VI Agroforestry Project Masaka/Rakai. The study is primarily based on interviews with farmers within the project area and brings up a local perspective on the concepts sustainable development, active participation and empowerment. The study shows that to improve the farmers? livelihood and to create a sustainable development in the community, the farmers have to be actively involved in, and in control of, the process.

This essay aims at understanding the experience of the use of ayahuasca, and similarities and differences between interview protocols and socio-cultural identities. The work is based on field studies conducted in the Peruvian Andes, in the village of Pisac September to November 2009. What has emerged is that the experience does not seem to be dependent on cultural manifestations as much as it is dependent on general human cognition. Theories have been applied on an empirical phenomenological descriptive study. Various brain activities, along with mental mechanisms contribute to a deeper understanding of the findings in the descriptive analysis.It seems that the cultural differences, which I have classed as typological in the phenomenological study, mostly are expressions of meaning for the informants.

This thesis describes how the punk movement was started in Sweden and how it continued to grow in the late 70's. The main questions are: How was the punk movement regarded in Sweden?; How did punk reflect the society? and What does the term punk represent?The study is based on journalistic texts in newspapers and magazines from the period of the breakthrough of punk. The work is based on a methodical review of the material and is organized thematically under topics like opinions, gigs, clothing and music. Initially, punk lead to misunderstandings and misperceptions since few people knew what punk was all about.

Introduction: Basic Body Awereness Therapy (BBAT) is a treatment developed to treat different kinds of psychiatric diagnoses, but also to prevent the emergence of any other unhealthy conditions. The treatment is aimed to increase the body control and conscious breathing but also requires mental awareness.Aim: The aim of this study is to, based on social cognitive theory, describe patients' experiences of BBAT performed as group therapy.Method: The study design was qualitative with an inductive approach. Five people were interviewed after a BBAT group treatment in primary care. The data was collected by individual interviews with semi-structured questions and the interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis.Result/Conclusion: The participants experienced increased body awareness and implemented BBAT strategies even though the treatment frequency was insufficient. BBAT was described as helpful used to regulate intensity level, stress management and facilitate breathing.

The main objective in this study is to examine the pupil?s possibility to affect the upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. I was once active in the pupil?s council and experienced some hardships, feeling a great dissatisfaction among teachers and principals against pupil?s suggestions and chances to affect their school environment. Thus I wanted to do a contemporary study of where schools in Stockholm stand today within this issue.

Background: With increasing age follows higher risks of conditions and illnesses which can cause a decrease in health and wellbeing. A meaningful social environment can positively impact the physical health of older people. Dogs are increasingly being used for different purposes within health care and animal assisted therapy aims to improve people?s physical, social, emotional and cognitive function.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of animal assisted therapy on older people?s health and wellbeing.Methods: A literature review where searches for academic articles in databases PubMed, Cinahl and PsychInfo were performed. The searches resulted in 14 articles which were selected for further review.

Sammanfattning Kisel (Si) är det näst vanligaste ämnet (drygt 25 %) i berggrunden. Bara en del av detta är tillgängligt som monokiselsyra, den form i vilken kisel är upptagbart för växter. Jordens kiselinnehåll är beroende av bergets vittring. Mycket höga halter av kisel återfinns i naturen i vulkaniska substrat (pimpsten innehåller drygt 66 % Si och scoria närmare 47 % Si), i diatomit (ett mineral bestående av resterna från encelliga kiselhaltiga alger, s.k. diatoméer) innehållande 66 % Si, scoria approximatly 47% Si), in diatomite (a mineral consisting of the remainings of single celled algae, diatoms containing < 40 % Si) and in some clays (30-60% Si).

AimThe aim of this essay is by using a motor skill track to see if there exists any remarkable difference in the motor skill profiles between pupils from our montessori school and the mean score in the "Nytidstest". The questions at issue we had were: How is the motor skill profile on pupils in year 2 and 3 practicing montessori pedagogy? Is the motor skill profile superior or inferior to the mean score in the "Nytidstest"? What factors, if any, concerning the montessori pedagogy affects the results of the test?MethodWe used a motor skill track consisting of 8 stations sellected from the "Nytidstest" adapted for year 3 (the original test consists of 16 stations). Pupils from year 2 and 3 in our chosen montessori school were tested in groups of 4-5 persons each. We made the tests on two occasions each lasting for 100 minutes at the time.

Climate change is the modern society?s common issue. The developed countries areconsuming more than what is sustainable, and the climate change due to the use offossil fuels can be seen clearly. EU has specified goals, in order to stop furtherdamage, which demand that every member state have to reduce its energyconsumption by 20 % before 2020 and 50 % before 2050, relative to 1995.The Swedish government uses a number of instruments to encourage reduction in theusage of energy, but every individual has to contribute to reach the goals.With increasing energy price the cost of living is going up. A lot of people are lookingfor ways to save energy and not be affected as much by the increasing price.Investments for insulation, replacement of windows and replacing old heating systemfor a new efficient heat pump is getting more and more common.This thesis is about investigating the possibilities in becoming independent from buyingenergy for households.

The purpose of this essay is to examine for the age discrimination towards older people in the working life. The essay practice EU-law and national law to examine the age discrimination. It also looks for the limits towards age discrimination. A presentation of the rules will make it easier to see how employers are possible to get around the ban against age discrimination. This essay also illustrates how age discrimination emerges in recruitment processes and then how to discourage age discrimination.