The aim and purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the effects of affirmative action as a tool to improve the equality of the sexes in a male dominated organisation such as the Swedish armed forces. The study takes a qualitative approach, using feminist theory as a point of departure. Primarily socially based differences between men and women are identified and the resistance towards change is taken into account.To understand the impact of affirmative action I have observed the political debate on the subject and contrasted it to the ongoing debate from within the armed forces. Extensive interviews have been held with both men and women from varying ranks and ages to understand what the overall opinion of the method is.My results show that there is a widespread animosity towards affirmative action as a method of improving equality. Both in the political debate and within the organisation in question.

As technology have continued to develop over the latest decades and become more advanced the pressure on the general citizens understanding of technology becomes a essential part to live in our society today. The transition have affected our society in great ways and have made a great impact on different groups, one of them being the elderly population in our society. The purpose of this study is to examine how the fast technological development in the latest decades have affected the elderly in our society. This from their perspective by gathering empirical data through semi-structured interviews with elderly people involved in the Agnes-project, a research project focused on improving the general quality of life for older people and increase their knowledge about technology. The study has shown that after the older peoples time involved in the Agnes-project their quality of life had improved in different areas. Areas such as increased cognitive activity, increased interest in new technology and an improvement in their communication with friends and family.

The aim of this study was to analyze the assessment of the primary school, from the teacher?s perspective. There has been an ongoing discussion regarding assessment and about the purposes of assessment for a long time. But there is a paucity of research on what teachers believe about. This study examined primary teachers? beliefs on major purposes of assessment.Assessment is the process of gathering and interpreting information about students? learning.

The purpose of the study has been to recognise good development and the factors behind this development. We have chosen an aid-project co-financed first by the Swedish government and later by the government of Great Britain for our study. One of the conditions for good development, according to our chosen theory Another development, is peoples participation. To study good development and peoples participation we conducted a Minor Field Study (MFS) in Rajasthan in the north-west of India in June-August 2001. We had a hermeneutic approach and consequently accomplished interviews and participant observations in the Lok Jumbish project in Rajasthan.

The aim of this project was to change the way cutting techniques are being taught. I wished to try a method which I believed to enhance my students´ participation and understanding of their education. My purpose was to reduce the gap between theory and practice. After conducting a learning style test I found that most of them considered the best way for them to learn was by combining practice with dialogue and reflection of the tasks being done. That is why we tried to start working with the practical elements rather than traditionally starting with the theoretical aspects, while carefully intertwining terms and language of the trade into the education.

It is extremely important that the construction of the environment where children and youngsters spend the majority of their days supports the progress of their mentality. That is why I in this study will investigate what a certain amount of teachers consider of the interplay between learning and environment and how they thought a satisfactory environment structure eras of learning and also what the teachers consider to be missing at this point.The schools where I gathered my material are located in Thailand but they use the Swedish curriculum as a starting point and the students at these schools are mostly Swedish speaking.An important element that I came across was the impact of the surrounding on how to shape and use the environment as a tool in the teaching. Thailand?s climate is different than the Swedish climate; I want to investigate if that has any effect in the teaching.The educational environment in schools includes not only the classrooms but also every other space closely connected. Earlier scientific research as well as those people that I used as objects for interviews agrees regarding the fact that a suitable and stimulating environment are one of the most impact on how well children learn.

The intention of this essay was to describe and analyse the participant's experience in a work project based on a holistic model. The main purpose of the project was to integrate homeless people back into society. My main questions were: 1. What meaning did the project have in the participant's life? 2.

The aim of this master's thesis is a comparative study on units for civic information in Göteborg. The study is based on a project currently in progress at the main public library in Göteborg. It is observed that according to the library's mission statement the library aims to become the most competent intermediary of civic information in Göteborg. This statement suggests a competitive strategy towards other intermediaries of civic information. The mission statement does, however, also state that their goal is to be obtained in cooperation with other intermediaries.

The occupational therapist uses meaningful activities to promote health and accomplish functional progress. The professional role is to support and enable for the client to change his/her life. One way to accomplish this is to use the group as a tool. Knowledge is needed about how learning works and which teaching methods exist to promote learning, so it is adapted after the clients´ personal way of learning. The aim of this study was to investigate which pedagogical approaches occupational therapists use in group activities.

The aim of this study is to examine the democratization process of Kosovo in the years after the countries independence was assured. Two central questions for the case study consist of whether a democratic improvement in the country has occurred and which factors, positive and negative, are present to further improve or impede the democratizationprocess. The study builds upon two central definitions, democratic states and democratization in order to gain theoretical background to be able to measure these two quite abstract expressions. A socioeconomic model is used to measure favorable or negative developments within Kosovos society and the findings of this model confirms the hypothesis of modernization theory, namely that increased socioeconomic development increases the chance of a positive democratizationprocess. There has been a positive democratic development aswell as socioecomic progress but since the nature of this study is merely descriptive and not explanatory, it doesnt make claims on the explanatory power of modernization theory.

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how nursing home staff at dementia care facilities interpret, treat and manages sexual behavior of patients. Four group interviews were made with a total of thirteen participants from three different dementia care facilities. The collected material was processed and thematized in pursuance of the research questions of the study. The results were analysed using three concepts from queer theory; heteronormativity, the heterosexual matrix and power, as well as an article about how nursing home staff constructs actions of patients. The results showed that staff member?s assessments about the patient?s sexual behaviours depended on their posture towards the norm of what is considered to be acceptable.

Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva betydelsen av studie- och yrkesvägledande aktiviteter med barn i åldrarna sju till tolv år. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med sex examinerade studie- och yrkesvägledare som bedriver studie- och yrkesvägledningsverksamhet med barn i grundskolans år 1-6 eller fungerar som stöd till pedagoger som arbetar med studie- och yrkesorienterande verksamhet med barn i dessa åldrar. Resultatet visade att intervjupersonerna anser att arbetet måste påbörjas tidigt, helst redan i grundskolans första år, för att målen så som de skrivs fram i de nationella styrdokumenten ska kunna uppnås. De förutsättningar intervjupersonerna menade krävs för att tidig vägledning ska kunna bedrivas är av såväl strukturell som av individuell art. Slutsatsen som drogs var att studie- och yrkesvägledande aktiviteter som påbörjas i grundskolans tidigare år och som följer elevernas kognitiva utveckling kan medverka till att eleverna ökar sina förutsättningar att göra väl underbyggda val i framtiden..

In this essay I have investigated how two families, with children, who have food allergies, experience what support and what treatment they get in preschool for their difficulties. I have interviewed two children and two parents. The study shows that the interviewed parents believe that more knowledge in the community and among staff in preschool, about food allergies, is needed. Parents wish that the staff should write an action plan that describes how to deal with children who have food allergies and that preschool invites parents and children to record results. It is important to consider an inclusive attitude so that children don?t feels excluded.There is some research going on around this subject and researchers agree that the incidence of food allergies in the society is growing, but that it is difficult to be able to present a certain theory why, and what the underlying factors are.

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a common genetic disorder that affects for example the heart, palate, immune system and hearing and therefore affects a child?s development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the proportion of children (0-18 years) with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome who have a hearing loss. A retrospective study of 103 children diagnosed with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome was conducted by medical records. Of the 103 children, 51 were boys and 52 were girls.

This paper has bearing on the subject of foreign policy analysis and decision-making,but is nonetheless important to peace and conflict studies due to its emphasis onnuclear weapons and deterrence.I have constructed a theoretical framework for the analysis of foreign policydecision-making that I set out to test on a crucial case. The framework iscrosscutting, and takes into consideration four levels of analysis: the system-,regional-, state-, and individual level. It is centred on a key decision maker, andapplies a cognitive approach for determining his or hers belief system through whichthe inputs from the other levels are filtered in order for the decision maker toconstruct a perception of reality, from which the decision is then formulated within.The framework is applied to North Korean and its leader Kim Jong Il. It sets outto explain his behaviour in the matter of their claimed nuclear weapons program, andhis decision to conduct a nuclear weapons-test, getting inside his head trying to figureout why he chose to do it and for what reasons.The conclusion indicates that the basic structure of the framework and its generalapplicability is sound, but that it needs further testing in order to make it perfectly solid..