During the year of 2008, a powerful earthquake hit the southern part of Iceland, which changed the geothermal conditions in the area around the city of Hveragerdi. Elevated soil temperatures in a nearby forest plantation have contributed to a unique opportunity for researchers to study how an increased soil temperature affects the boreal forest ecosystem, something that partly can be connected to the climate changes which are happening today. The boreal forest is representing a carbon sink and a buffert for the emissions that occurs. Changes in this ecosystem will for that reason contribute to major impact for the global carbon cycle. To study the impact of how elevated soil temperatures affects different processes in a plantation of Sitka spruce, studies were made on the photosynthesis of the trees and the respiration from the soil.

With this study, our purpose has been to achieve profounded knowledge and understanding regarding the use of discretion among social workers specialized in social allowance issues. The Social Services Act, structured as a framework law in the Swedish context, provides the social worker with a certain degree of discretion, in order to enable accommodated decisions depending on client case specifics. This study problematizes these aspects of legal security, and our intention has been to examine which factors impact the assessments social workers carry out in statutory decisions of social allowance applications. To attain this, we narrowed down our intention into a number of distinct and delimitated research questions: (1) Which elements of the client case impact the social worker?s assessment? (2) Which external aspects influence the social worker?s assessments and decisions? (3) How do social workers decide the client?s credibility? In order to establish answers to our research questions, we have utilized a qualitative approach of research by exerting qualitative interviews in addition to a vignette study.

AbstractClimate and environmental issues are of paramount importance. Researchers agreethat we must all contribute to a reduction of gases that contribute to climatechange. Energy consumption must decrease within all sectors and the promotionof renewable sources of energy must be introduced.Each sector should aspire to decrease its energy consumption. Energyconsumption is strongly linked to waste gases that contribute to climate change.Passive houses are a part of the construction industry's methods to attain energyconservation.Passive houses are derived from low energy houses and super insulated houses. Apassive house is intended to obtain heat from the inhabitants and through theiractivities.

My aim is to find out about teachers? perceptions of methods concerning learning and assessment of oral proficiencies. My questions are: What perceptions are there among teachers concerning assessment of oral proficiencies? How do teachers describe their ways of promoting and assessing oral proficiency? In order to answer my questions and obtain data I have accomplished two focus groups interviews with seven language teachers. The result shows that teachers are concerned with several factors regarding assessment of oral proficiency.

The lack of fresh and clean water today causes severe problems, mostly in developing countries. Waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, amoebic dysentery and diarrhea create health problems and deaths among people. There is a need for low cost interventions like household-based water treatment and safe storage (HWTS). Solvatten AB is a Swedish company based in Stockholm. Their product, Solvatten, is a household water treatment unit that can treat water containing viruses, parasites and bacteria.

The aim of the study was to examine how social workers investigate and assess addiction cases whether gender matters or not. The following questions were asked in the study; ? Does the gender of the client influence whether a case is opened after the first meeting at the Addiction Unit? ? Do social workers consider there is a difference in handling an addiction treatment investigation when the client is a man or a woman? ? Do divergences exist in the assessment and the final decision process when the case concerns a man or a woman? The study is based on the qualitative method. The material is gathered from semi-structured interviews with social workers. Their job tasks include assessment and evaluation of addiction cases.

The students participating in my development work will work with a process book for handicraft studies. In the beginning of their studies, the students need practical knowledge about the development of the profession itself, but they also need to be challenged and learn how to solve problems on their own which will help them gain a deeper knowledge of the subject.    I focus on open questions to create a process with the students. This process is created when working with Solution-Focused-Education. Through ?assessment for learning? we can help the students to improve their self-assessment and understanding of the learning process.

Today's climate and environmental issues have now been up for discussion for quite long. Various environmental measures have been taken, but it is not always certain that those measures actually are for the better because of the complexity of our environment. Therefore, studies of whole life cycles are very important even if they are time and resource intensive.Real estate accounts for 15% of global carbon emissions, but also affects our environment in many other aspects. In Sweden this number is even higher. About 30 % of its carbon dioxide emissions originates from building sector and changes are therefore of great importance.

During the spring semester of 2012 did Petra Hollsten independently a thesis on reducing the environmental impact of capsule for coffee, tea and chocolate. The work was performed at Karlstad University, Faculty of Technology and Science under the Bachelor of Science program in innovation, technology and design. The project's scope is at 22.5 points.The employment for this project is the company Löfbergs Lila AB in Karlstad. Supervisor at the Principal has been Maria Herou Wallner and Sandra Lyxell, product managers. Supervisor at Karlstad University is Monica Jakobsson, lecturer and program leader for innovation and design engineering program.

Today's climate and environmental issues have now been up for discussion for quite long. Various environmental measures have been taken, but it is not always certain that those measures actually are for the better because of the complexity of our environment. Therefore, studies of whole life cycles are very important even if they are time and resource intensive.Real estate accounts for 15% of global carbon emissions, but also affects our environment in many other aspects. In Sweden this number is even higher. About 30 % of its carbon dioxide emissions originates from building sector and changes are therefore of great importance.

This thesis aims to further study the interpersonal risk taking within groups and thereby the importance of a climate promoting a reflective behavior. The increased demand in complexity and exposure towards teamwork leads to increased call for knowledge integration, which can be explained as the ability to integrate the collective knowledge within the group. We have therefor identified a need for better understanding what makes a group more effective. Key factors for self-estimated effective collaboration have been shown to be a group's reflective behavior and ability to coordinate the skills that each individual possesses. These factors are greatly affected by the psychological safety within the team.

The aim of this study was to analyze the assessment of the national tests seen from the teacher?s perspective. The national tests are performed in the Swedish school, classes 3, 5, 9, and the upper secondary school (gymnasiet). There has been an ongoing discussion regarding assessment and grading for a long time and it is of high interest now more than ever. The last control assessment done in 2009 by the department of school inspections on the order of the Swedish government, showed big differences between the assessments done by the teachers, and the assessments completed by the department of school inspections.

Syftet med följande studie är att undersöka hur gymnasielärare kan resonera kring bedömning. Fokus ligger på huruvida respondenterna har ett i huvudsak formativt eller summativt förhållningssätt, samt vilka möjligheter respektive hinder de ser i formativa bedömningsmetoder. Empirin har insamlats genom intervjuer, och visar att respondenterna har en summativ syn på bedömning där betygsskalan är central. De möjligheter som ses i formativa metoder är ökad medvetenhet hos eleverna samt tydlighet gällande kursmål. De hinder som tas upp gäller elevernas mognad, lärarens osäkerhet och otillräckliga kunskap samt tidsåtgången..

För att möta kommande klimatförändringar behövs klimatanpassning vilket innebär att skydda samhället mot klimatförändringarna och ta tillvara eventuella möjligheter. Olika länder har tillämpat olika sätt att styra anpassning, vilka generellt kan delas in i top-down och bottom-up styrning. Dessa styrformer generar olika problem och möjligheter för implementering. Till exempel så brister ofta styrning genom top-down implementeringen på lokal nivå, medan bottom-up ofta försvåras av att lokala aktörer saknar resurser i implementering. I denna litteratur och dokumentsbaserade studie undersöker vi aktuell forskning och policydokument för att med stöd av Environmental Governance-teorin, klargöra styrningsformernas uppbyggnad, effektivitet, problem och möjligheter.

The European Union is a self proclaimed leader in the field of climate change and has a common target for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. In spite of this, there are great differences between the member states capacity and dedication to the cause of implementing the Unions climate policy and reduce their emissions. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to an understanding of how different European states construct their identity in the context of climate change mitigation. By analyzing national documents from three European states and using tools deriving from discourse analysis, I aim to illuminate differences and similarities in their rhetoric. The result is that due to the states relationship to the European Union and the United Nations, there are great similarities in the way they construct mitigation and their identity.