Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the second most common heart disease in dogs. Since the disease is seen more frequently in certain breeds, among them Newfoundland dogs, a genetic factor is suspected. This study was partly undertaken to investigate whether there is a significant sex predilection regarding DCM. Moreover, the difference in mean age of death between male dogs and females with DCM was investigated, as well as males and females dying from DCM compared to dying from other reasons (i.e. without DCM).

The purpose of this study is to analyse asylum seeking converts understanding of their conversion process based on church context, specifically within the realm of evangelical church and theology. Through the method of content analysis this essay analyses six qualitative interviews done with converts from two Islamic traditions to Swedish free church Christianity. The essay discusses the results through the lens of Lewis Rambos seven-phase theoretical concept of conversion. The important results given by this study shows that the first contact with other Christians in a new country, which creates a new community serving as an interpretive framework for their lives, triumphs the question of the theological perception for the conversion. Also, the results shows that intellectual understanding of the doctrines of faith is less important relative to the conversion process best described by the words touched, taught, and transformed.

In January 2005 the emission allowance system was introduced within the European Union and the first period ends at the end of 2007. The system was introduced in order to decrease the wastes of carbon dioxide and the system is a part of ratifying the Kyoto ?protocol which first period runs between 2008-2012.The idea of the system is to reduce the wastes of carbon dioxide where it costs less to do so and the expenses for the society therefore are as diminutive as possible. Different theories explain that companies can benefit from environment legislation and can depending on the company?s attitude gain competitive advantages improve its productivity and thereby increase its profitability.With this in mind, the study aims at examining how the introduction of the emission trade system has influenced Swedish smaller companies in the distant heating industry, with focus on the factors attitude, innovation, competition and profitability.

In 1993 the internal market within the European Union was formed and ensured free movement of goods, services, capital and people. This led to the removal of trade barriers between members of the European Union. When opening up for competition, price differences between countries decreased and more jobs were created. A single currency was introduced by eleven countries in 1999 with the goal of reducing transaction costs, eliminating exchange rate risk and to further simplify trade. In 2001 Greece joined the collaboration and introduced the euro.

This study deals with the phenomenon of European integration and its impact on national party programs in Poland, a current member state of the European Union. The author will argue that the question of European integration has left a mark on the political party programs of two mainstream domestic parties on opposite sides of the ideological dimension, in the form of a certain degree of convergence regarding the ?European issue?. Relating the result of the analysis to the theoretical structure of Europeanization and sociological institutional change, the essay will attempt to show a possible link between them. Although this trend does not seem to indicate any dramatic effects of the membership per se in the programs (the national arena seems, in most cases, be of more value for party activities) there is an indirect effect in the form of the presence of Europarties and a pronounced incentive for social and economic adaptation..

This thesis analyzes the effects of export subsidies on Swedish cereal export. The analyzes are based on data on cereal export from Sweden to countries outside the EU from 1990 to 2003. In 1995 Sweden became a member of the European Union. Before the membership, the Swedish agricultural policy was decoupled in a larger sense than the European CAP was, which means that the Swedish producers had decreased their production more than the European farmers. When Sweden became a member of the EU the production started to increase again to an EU level.

 Dissertation in political science, C-level by Niklas Andersson, Spring Semester 2009. Tutor: Arne Larsson?The Treaty of Lisbon ? The Defence against Globalization??In the modern world globalization have undermined the nation-state and left it without the right measurements to adequately deal with the social and economic unrest that follows in its way. The states, built on contract theories, have an obligation to protect its citizens from the state of nature which seems to have failed as globalization has changed the rules.The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the contract theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Rawls to identify the elements of a state and create a modern and ideal contract theory. The treaty shall then be used on the Treaty of Lisbon as it can be seen as a contract between the European states to create an entity in the shape of the European Union with the power to defend Europe from the unrest created by globalization.My question for this was as follows:Is the new treaty for the European Union acceptable as a new social contract according to the social contract theories?During my research the following criteria?s for a social contract was found:1.

The aim of this thesis is to ascertain if women are discriminated in the European Parliament, and if so, how it is expressed. Our hypothesis is that female members of the parliament suffer a kind of double discrimination. The European Parliament consists of roughly one third women, but nevertheless the discrimination does not end there. According to our hypothesis women do not have the same opportunity to influence as their male colleagues, hence the double discrimination.The results of this thesis show that women are discriminated, mainly by not gaining access to the European Union's important issues, whilst the female dominated issues are scheduled on late evening and at the end of a session week. Another unsatisfactory issue was that even though half of the reports were given by women, they only received one third of the references to their reports while men received two thirds of the references.

AbstractThe thesis investigates how the European Union promotes stability and security in the Mediterranean region. The aim is to analyse the European Union?s security ambitions with Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Barcelona Process. An analytical framework with five sectors (military, political, economic, environmental and societal), based on the Copenhagen School?s theories about security sectors and securitization, is used for the analysis.

The aim of this project was to look into ten small sewer systems in the municipality of Laholm, in Sweden, in order to work out common assessment grounds for them. The sizes of the systems for purification of wastewater were within the range of 25 to 2000 population equivalents. Our method was to study literature, the laws and regulations applicable and the files at the municipality. The conclusion is that every sewer system is different and every situation is unique. We concluded that based on laws and assessment grounds sewer systems equal in size and pollution load ought to have similar demands attached to them.

In this thesis we have examined Västra Götalandsregionens ways to lobby and network in the European Union. Our aim was to examine which kind of methods the region uses to lobby in a successful way in Brussels. We found that the region uses both formal and informal methods of lobbying to gain advantages in Brussels. We also wanted to locate various networks which the region is involved in to more easily have their interests satisfied. We found that they had a lot of different alliances and that it is necessary to be involved in different networks to have a chance to lobby the EU institutions.

The Pedagogical progression within MSI ? Based upon The Bologna Process and UPC.In a near future several of the European countries will begin working after new guidelines concerning a declaration called the Bologna process. Everything will be done one step at a time and the declaration will change the way the students are being graded, all this for the sake of making the European labour-market moreopened for all of its millions of students.In Växjö this process is in the making, but to adapt to the future demands the school must also change its ways of teaching.To increase its quality the University has put together a procedure of actions to improve the pedagogical working method in all its institutions. In this essay we would like to elucidate how the work with the Bologna process is proceeding within the institution of Mathematics and System Engineering and whatthey do improve their pedagogical teaching. By doing a qualitative case study on the student at the Computer Science Program we wish to find the answers to our questions..

When developing software that is meant to be distributed over several different computers and several different networks while still working together against a common goal there is a challenge in testing how updates within a single component will affect the system as a whole. Even if the performance of that specific component increases that is no guarantee for the increased performance of the entire system. Traditional methods of testing software becomes both hard and tedious when several different machines has to be involved for a single test and all of those machines has to be synchronized as well.This thesis has resulted in an exemplary application suite for testing distributed software. The thesis describes the method used for implementation as well as a description of the actual application suite that was developed. During the development several important factors and improvements for such a system was identified, which are described at the end of the thesis even though some of them never made it into the actual implementation.

The European bison is a species which is no longer present in the wild fauna of Sweden. Reintroduction has been proposed in several different forums. Reintroduction is an attempt to reestablish a viable population of a species in an area to which it is native. To make such an operation successful in the long run it is essential to know the attitudes of the stakeholders involved. This study has sensed the attitudes towards reintroduction of European bison to Sweden.

This paper analyses the potential extent of labour mobility in the European Union after the eastern enlargement that took place in 2004, but focuses on movements from the 10 new member countries to the old EU -members. In this study, a number of economic models are used to investigate if there is a large potential for labour mobility in the enlarged EU and also if this potential has large effects on mobility in reality. The potential for labour mobility is, to a large extent, discussed in terms of theoretical migrating incitements for workers and different types of labour migration obstacles. Many factors indicate that such large potential for migration actually exists, mainly due to high difference in wages and unemployment and because of the common EU market. At the same time, the presence of natural and constructed obstacles is likely to restrict migration for a long period of time..