New family stuctures are constantly emerging in society. Are these changes mirrored in foster care practice? The aim of this study was to explore to what extent homosexual families are represented when a child is given a foster home. The nuclear family has throughout history been assured a stable position both in society as well as in the foster care practice. During the last ten years a homosexual relationship has been legaly accepted through different amendents and it has also been more integrated and accepted in society.

AbstractWe are facing a century of rapid change in climate, with significant challenges in managing the impact of changes in living conditions for plants and animals. We can already see the responses of species through changes in phenology and spatial distribution, which may change ecosystem structure and function, with subsequent effect on ecosystem services and biological diversity. In Sweden, between 2005 and 2010, the red-listed species has increased by 13 % and similar trends can be seen across the world, making it difficult to attain national and international environmental objectives of preserving biodiversity. One way to reduce the loss of biodiversity is to protect nature from exploitation by allocating valuable areas as nature reserves, but climate change affects protected areas just as much as other landscapes and therefore requires elaborate systems of protection to facilitate species' survival. The paper has examined  how the decisions and management plans for nature reserves in Sweden have been followed-up and whether they are climate adapted or not by examining 30 nature reserves, classified as newly formed (2012), recently revised (2009-2011) and older (1977-2007) reserves, and assessed what is in the decisions and management plans for follow-up, revision, long-term goals and documentation.

Karin Holmkvist (2014) Sleep, meals and physical activity among professional drivers during the day with work and spare time. Master?s thesis in health at work. University of Gävle. Night work and irregular work hours affects social and biological rhythms in activity, eating, sleep and metabolism. Researchshows how theworking conditions andworking hours affect professional drivers´ lifestyle and there is a negative impact on their health.

All since Thomas Kuhn?s strongly influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions the Philosophy of Science and ?even more so ?the Social Sciences have contained a greater amount of theories that could be described as more or less relativistic, meaning that the standards of justification or truth thereafter more often were said to be relative to language, culture, or biological makeup. One of the more elaborate ways of developing Thomas Kuhn?s theories in a more relativistic direction ismade by the philosopher Richard Rorty. Rorty, mainly a supporter of Thomas Kuhn, is also a philosopher who has been seen as a main exponent of a so called Postmodern philosophy.My intention in this thesis is to evaluate whether Kuhn's and Rorty's theories of science and knowledge could be regarded as relativism, in respects of their view of incommensurability, rational argumentation, and of their position vis-á-vis the more conventional picture of scientific knowledge and truth.

The Chinese government´s aim to be self-sufficient in food production in combination with the increased food consumption in China has put high pressure on the productivity within the Chinese agricultural sector (He j et al, 2010). In order to increase the productivity, modernization and adoption of new farming techniques are essential. The opportunity to adopt and import foreign technology has lately been possible in China, as more authority and decision rights have been given to the individual farmers and the country has opened up for foreign trade (Zheng, 2012 & Fan, 1991). A more open Chinese market enables new opportunities for foreign agricultural companies to expand their businesses by introducing their products to Chinese farmers. But to succeed with this strategy the Chinese farmers must be willing to adopt these, for them new innovations. Minimum tillage is a tillage practice used worldwide that is suitable in northern China where drought and erosion are the main problems in the crop production (pers.com., Arvidsson, 2012). Potential users? opinion of new innovations such as minimum tillage is closely related to adoption (Rogers, 2003).

This qualitative study is about motivation and experience of support among non-kinship fosterparents in a child welfare agency (NGO), in Paraguay. The empirical data where collectedthrough out six semi-structured qualitative interviews, with totally eight foster parentsparticipating. The aim of the study was to describe and analyze what motivates foster parentsand how they experience support from their formal and informal network. Further theobjective was to investigate how support (may) affect motivation and enable good foster care.Theoretical concepts such as solidarity, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as well as socialsupport where used to analyze the data.The results show that there are many different motives and motivations (intrinsic andextrinsic) that correlate in the decision to become and continue to be a foster parent. Amongthem social involvement, the wish to make a difference in a child?s life, have something tooffer as a family and personal satisfaction seems to be the most frequent reasons.

Svartedalens nature reserve a social richness worth develop. The nature reserve of Svartedalen is an area of high biological and social values. The reserve is located close to several densely populated areas. The reserve has been classified as a national area of interest for nature conservation and outdoor life, and as a Natura 2000 area according to both the bird- and habitat directions. The reserve is the largest landarea in Västra Götaland, 3 410 hectares, where a resolution has been made about all these forms of protection. The foundation Skogssällskapet owns 1 956 hectares of the reserve, at 1 384 hectares of the property they pursue FSC-certified silver culture, according to current management plan.

Studie av koldioxidgradienter i havets ytskiktSofia SöderholmDenna studie bygger på ett nyligen utvecklat instrument som har mätt koldioxidkoncentrationer på tre olika djup i vattnet samt en nivå i luften. Då detta instrument var oprövat i vatten har en utvärdering av mätmetodens lämplighet för vattenmätningar utförts. Syftet med mätningarna var att undersöka ytvattnets vertikala koldioxidgradient för att med hjälp av denna kunna beskriva flödet av koldioxid mellan hav och atmosfär bättre. Detta flöde är en viktig del av den globala kolcykeln och en djupare förståelse för koldioxidflödets beteende kan i framtiden bidra till mer noggranna klimatprognoser. Hur de beräknade flödena från profilinstrumentet påverkas av temperaturgradienterna i vattnets ytskikt har även det studerats.

Karin Holmkvist (2014) Sleep, meals and physical activity among professional drivers during the day with work and spare time. Master?s thesis in health at work. University of Gävle. Night work and irregular work hours affects social and biological rhythms in activity, eating, sleep and metabolism. Researchshows how theworking conditions andworking hours affect professional drivers´ lifestyle and there is a negative impact on their health.

In connection with the admittance of the EC-directive (99/31/EC) in Swedish politic, through the constitution of waste depositing (2001:512) at year 2001, the rules about management the landfills and leachates tightened. At the landfill Vissberga in the municipality of Hallsberg, a leachate treatment plant was constructed just a year thereafter. This treatment plant consisted of an aerated pond with a following land treatment and a willow cultivation to replace the land treatment during the summer. In this case the parameters, which were estimated as the most important to reduce, were iron and nitrogen. The iron would react with the oxygen-rich water in the aerated pond and precipitate to ferric-hydroxide and than settle in a calm zone of the pond.

Various electromagnetic (EM) treatments has been investigated for their potential in improving crop productivity over the past century. There is today an increasing amount of scientists advocating EM treatments as an organically compatible method for improving plant growth and yield. However, failure to produce repeatable effects and defining causal mechanisms has made it a study of much controversy and debate. The subject requires indepth interdisciplinary knowledge, making it inaccessible for the majority of biologists, horticulturists and growers. In this combined literature review and pilot study, these issues are addressed by providing a comprehensive introductory review of the topic plant bioelectromagnetics and its potential horticultural usability.

During spring 2008, the Institution for Landscape Architecture, in co-operation with Naturvårdsverket, initiated a survey in the districts of Skåne. In the survey, four out of eight park characters were examined, and it was observed that not only was it difficult interpreting these characters, but it was also presented with difficulties separating ??Lustgården?? and ??Allmänningen??. The purpose of this master thesis in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Psychology is twofold. Firstly, a theoretical framework will be constructed on the thee characters ??Allmänningen??, ??Lustgården?? and ??Centrum, festen??.

Aim: The aim of the study is to show how a Bildung-oriented biology teaching could be designed, along with providing classroom examples of such teaching. In this study, the term Bildung, is defined based on the German Didaktik tradition as competences for self-determination, constructive participation in society, and solidarity. Theory: The study is based om Englund?s thoughts of teaching as didactic choices that express different views of meaning, socialisation, method, and context. This is referred to as companion meanings. Additionally, the theoretical framework is influenced by Gadamer?s thoughts on understanding through dialogue and Klafki?s didactic analysis of educational content for Bildung-orientated approaches. Method: The empirical qualitative study is based on ten semi-structured interviews of biology teachers at Swedish Folkh?gskola.

The examination of the adequate nature conservation methods in a natural reserve, to conserve a specific species and / or increase biological diversity is the subject of this study. This work is based on four species, that can be found during the Spring season, liverleaf, wood anemone, brimstone and woodpecker. The incidence and availability is studied and closely observed for these species in twenty forests, i.e. ten forests which are nature reserves and ten forests with the similar characteristics as the nature reserves habitat, but are not nature reserves in Gnesta mucipality, Södermanland. Measurements of the tree crown and the diameter of the tree trunks where noted to study how these factors could affect the outcome of the abundance and incidence of the four species.

The world?s growing need for energy together with a desire to ward off the worst consequences of global climate change has resulted in a never seen desire to invest resources in renewable energy sources. Biogas production through anaerobic digestion is one of those growing energy sources. In Sweden there are over two hundred plants that uses this biological process to break down organic substances while producing carbon dioxide and the energy-rich gas methane.This master?s thesis has focused on development of the mixture of different organic substances that is treated at a specific plant, namely Mosserud biogas plant.