Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea is a serious problem. A major contributing factor is diffuse losses of phosphorus (P) from agricultural land in surrounding countries. In order to estimate P losses, environmental monitoring of small agriculture-dominated catchments is being carried out in most of these countries. Evaluation of the risk of P leaching to waters is usually based on chemical tests originally developed to quantify the amount of soil P available for plant production. The tests are performed in different ways in the different countries and a number of different extraction agents are in use.

During and after World War II Sweden was spying in the occupied Baltic countries which had been occupied, from 1943 by Nazi Germany and from 1944 by the Soviet Union. It began in 1943, with the Germans still occupying the Baltic countries, when Sweden and its intelligence service ?C-byrån? recruited volunteers among the Baltic refugees in Sweden and sent them back to the countries they had fled from. Many of the Baltic refugees to Sweden were men aged 25-45 so the Swedish intelligence service had a good recruiting source. This started the first period of intelligence operations in the three Baltic countries.

Background: Sweden and the rest of the world went through the biggest financial crisis at the end of 2008 since the 1930s. The major Swedish banks have goodwill related to their acquisitions inside and outside Scandinavia. Swedbank, SEB and Nordea has acquired in the Baltic countries and Russia, however Handelsbanken has established itself in Great Britain. The crisis in the Baltic countries led that real wages fell, unemployment rose, real estate prices collapsed and the number of borrowers who had trouble repaying their loans increased rapidly. All this led to the problem of impairment of goodwill in the Swedish banks that had expanded rapidly in the Baltic countries.Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the application of IFRS 3 in Swedish banks before, during and after the financial crisis, and to investigate the low-downs in the four majorSwedish banks in 2006-2010.Completion: The study is primarily based on the case studies by the examination of the annual reports from all banks as well as evaluation of the interviews.The authors have chosen to makea strategic choice of a small number of cases through the concentration on the impairment of goodwill in the bank sector of Sweden.Results: The result of this study is that there are problems for banks in implementation of IFRS 3 in practice because of insufficient information in the banks' financial statements.Generous estimates used in the calculation of impairment testing.

In Sweden the work of reducing acidification and its prime cause; emission and deposition of sulphur dioxide, has been going on for decades. Despite of all the work that has been done the positive progress in the acidified areas is slow. This is partly due to a long recovery time for the acidified areas but also because the reductions of emission and deposition of sulphur dioxide have not been large enough. Emissions of sulphur dioxide from land based source in Sweden are estimated to 34 000 tons in the year of 2010. During the same year, approximately 182 000 tons of sulphur dioxide will be deposited over the Swedish territory.

The purpose with the essay is to point out how the main differences of the Helsinkicommission, Helcom and Baltic 21 can be explained from a general perspective and with a specific focus on two of their ongoing projects: Baltic 21 Lighthouse projects and The Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Plan. And to investigate how the organisations them selves formulates the purpose of the two projects. This will be an indication on why environmental problems are handled with in a traditional matter although the rhetoric of the environmental politics is permeated by the concept of Sustainable Development.This dilemma is being treated from the theoretical approaches of Ecological Modernisation and Sustainable Development and linked to how these organisations actually carried out their work and how the historical heritage have a role to play in this complex of problems. The results of the essay shows that concrete differences exists in the way that the two organisations are constructed and how their ongoing projects are designed and formulated. These differences can be derived to the theoretical platforms Ecological Modernisation and Sustainable Development and be explained by in witch political context the organisations were created.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka om, och i så fall hur dagens elever i grundskolan undervisas om hållbar utveckling enligt riktlinjerna i Baltic 21E.Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och bygger på intervjuer av skolledning samt undervisande lärare i NO- och SO-ämnen vid två högstadieskolor i två kommuner i nordöstra Skåne.Baltic 21E:s övergripande mål gäller alla utbildningsnivåer, men anger speciellt för grundskolan att eleverna skall ha ?kompetens, värderingar och färdigheter för att kunna vara aktiva, demokratiska och ansvarsfulla medborgare och för att kunna fatta egna beslut?, samt kunna delta i beslut inom olika nivåer i samhället för att skapa ett hållbart samhälle. Eleverna ska också ha färdigheter, kompetens och relevant yrkesutbildning för sitt framtida arbetsliv.Resultatet visar att eleverna når likvärdiga kunskapsmål trots att de två skolorna bedriver undervisningen olika. Läromedlen är samma eller i vart fall likartade och innehåller de punkter Baltic 21E pekar på.De använda läromedlen uppfyller de normer Baltic 21E anger, varför alla grundskolor har möjligheten att bereda sina elever en tillfredsställande undervisning om hållbar utveckling, men ämnena bör samordnas bättre. Begreppet hållbar utveckling bör markeras med en ?flagga?, så att den ämnesövergripande kopplingen blir tydligare, och lättare att förstå för eleverna..

This paper is focuses on trade between eastern Blekinge and the other side of the Baltic Sea during the Viking Age. There are scarce tracks of trade in the area but one place, Skällenäs, isdifferent. Here a treasure has been found with coins from England and Germany and some of the place names are here probably connected with places on the other side of the Baltic.This discovery can be an indication of trade but the paper should be seen as a first investigation and could be the basis of a more extensive survey..

In November 2007 the countries around the Baltic Sea signed the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP). The action plan was an initiative from HELCOM due to the environmental status in the Baltic Sea. The action plan implemented a new approach with measures targeting the whole ecosystem. Eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and maritime activities constituted the main segments. The parties were to establish national implementation plans to fulfil the BSAP goals, which shall lead to good environmental status in the Baltic Sea by 2021.  The aim of this thesis is to investigate the points in common regarding conceptions of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea between the management, the science, the media and the public.

The Baltic Sea, due to its special conditions, is a unique and vulnerable marine environment. There are many pressures that have an impact on the sea and one of the major problems is the extensive flow of nutrients from land. The most visible effect of the supply of nutrients is the annual algal blooms. One of the main sources of nitrogen and phosphorus supply is agriculture. Nutrient losses from arable land have been increasing as agricultural production has intensified. At the end of the twentieth century an increased awareness of these problems led to the formation of organizations such as HELCOM and Baltic 21.

Background: A large part of the daily political and economic debate in Sweden concerns the EU. One question that has been debated since the beginning of European integration is whether trade is created as a consequence of integration and, ifso, how great are the gains related to the increased trade. An equally important but maybe less debated question is whether countries outside the union are affected by the increased European integration. Is increased European integration made at the cost of countries outside the EU? Purpose: The purpose of this study is, by calculating trade creation and trade diversion, to evaluate if a number of developing countries? trade with Sweden has decreased after Sweden?s membership in the European Union.

This bachelor thesis examines the relation between countries? degree of economic freedom and their economic performance. Economic freedom as a concept is defined as the degree of market economy within a nation.The variable of measure that is used is the Frasier institute Economic freedom of the world index (EFI). The paper is built upon the Solow growth model and is extended by incorporation of additional variables; among which of course economic freedom. The study is performed through regression analysis, based on the neoclassical model both on rich countries, poor countries and on all investigated countries.Two investigations are performed: i) the impact from economic freedom on countries level of GDP per capita and ii) the impact from economic freedom on the growth rate in GDP per capita.The finding is that economic freedom can be seen as a relevant determinant of differences in GDP per capita growth rates between nations.

Nutrient enrichment is the main cause of the increasing eutrophication process in the Baltic Sea during last century. A prerequisite counteract this process the load of nutrients to the Sea must be investigated. The large contribution of nutrients to the Sea is caused by emission from the rivers within the drainage basin. For the total emission of nutrient into the Sea the retention process in the rivers has big influence. This process in the river system has been assumed as a not important part of the nutrient cycle.

The Pitted ware dwelling site Ajvide on the west coast of Gotland in the Baltic Sea is, because of its long continuity from the late Mesolithic to the middle of the Scandinavian Bronze Age, an interesting research object concerning Stone Age in the Baltic area. In this essay, a comparison between two activity areas on Ajvide have been carried out in the purpose of finding out what these areas may have been used for during the middle Neolithic.  It has been showed, through zooarchaeological analyses of animal bones, that the areas most likely are depositing sites for slaughters refuse and food debris. If it is a result of everyday or more ceremonial activities is left undetermined..

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the most common economic effects of countries pursuing trade facilitation. Trade flows are constrained by non-tariff barriers and through trade facilitation these barriers can be decreased. We will study the effects of trade facilitation from a theoretical perspective and evaluate a number of empirical studies. Several different trade barriers will be identified as well as those regions and countries that will gain the most from trade facilitation. We draw the conclusion thatlarge gains would prevail for all countries and that the consumers, businesses and the state all benefit from trade facilitation.

I denna uppsats undersöker jag hur det är att arbeta som hbt-aktivist i Litauen, och redogör för hur man som aktivist förbereder sig inför landets första Prideparad: Baltic Pride. Uppsatsens syfte är att ur ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv undersöka hur litauiska hbt-aktivister arbetar för att synliggöras som grupp.Jag undersöker på vilka sätt litauiska hbt-aktivister förhåller sig till, och verkar inom, heteronormativa praktiker i sitt dagliga arbete och i förberedelserna av Baltic Pride. Mitt material består av sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer med litauiska hbt-aktivister.Resultatet visar att det litauiska samhällets i mångt och mycket negativa inställning till hbt-personer påverkar hur aktivisterna väljer att presentera sig själva som grupp. I presentationen av sig själva vill aktivisterna bryta ner stereotypa bilder av homosexualitet genom att iscensätta ett genusbeteende som associeras till normalitet. Inom ramen för Baltic Pride innebär detta en slags Anti-Pride, där iscensättningen av hbt-identiteten som en del av normen uppfattas som en effektivare strategi för att utmana heteronormen snarare än att använda lekar med könsroller, stereotyper eller parodier av normativa genusbeteenden..