ABSTRACTBachelor essay in political science by Hanna Richter, spring 2006Supervisor: Mats LindbergTitle: A study of the phenomenon of micronationsThe purpose of this essay is to study the phenomenon of ?micronations?, to describe it to the reader and to discuss why this phenomenon is interesting to study in the field of political science. The questions this essay seeks to answer are:- What are micronations, and which variations are to be found within the phenomenon?- Why are micronations interesting to study in the field of political science?Bary Buzans theory of the nature of the state works as a frame of reference to this investigation of micro ?state-like? units. The phenomenon of micronations has not been investigated by the social sciences in any extent worth mentioning yet.

There is a new beverage container on the market, a bottle made out of pure aluminum as a replacement for the traditional container made out of glass. This new container has the potential to reduce both cost and pollution during transportation, the lighter and stronger construction has every advantage compared to the old one in glass. The new container has every possibility to make it on the market. Some of the biggest brands within the soft drink market already use these bottles in Countries without any recycling demands like: Coca-Cola, Heineken and Pepsi. The only thing stopping these brands from the Swedish market is the lack of a functional return system, there is only one company that uses the bottle in Sweden today and they take care of their own used bottles.

Since several rules of law have a consideration of age, the Swedish labor law collides in many ways with the prohibition of age discrimination. The employment directives of EU were implemented in the member Countries after the shift of the millennium. Sweden was the last member to introduce age as a ground of discrimination in its legislation. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the Swedish regulations, regarding age discrimination and its application, is compatible with the EU.  The aim is also to investigate what is required to exclude the prohibition of age discrimination. The labor law provisions concerning the retirement age given in 32 a and 33 §§ LAS, priority rules according to 22 § LAS and the collectively agreed holiday benefit, which is regulated according to a worker's age, is to be investigated to see if they actually qualify for the exclusion of the prohibition against age discrimination. Furthermore, the paper intends to describe if the Swedish legislation has taken account of the research available on the subject of "age" and ?age discrimination?.

Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is a quality control system created by the European Union (EU) to protect integrity of certain food and drinks that are produced in a specific area in a unique way. By protecting these products, the EU can certify that the traditional region-specific methods of food and drink production are preserved. The EU Countries that follow such a system are mostly from Southern Europe. For instance in France, the PDO system has helped improve the income for farmers, boosted the rural development and assured protection for farmers against the abuse of their brand and the selling of their products by outsiders. In Sweden, there are no PDO products yet, instead there is Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Traditional Speciality Guarantee (TSG) that are not as protective as PDO.

Currently there is a tendency in the EU to adjust the minimum-capital requirement. In France and Germany the requirement for private limited liabilities has been totally abolished, whilst other Countries have chosen to reduce their requirement. The Swedish law concerning the minimum-capital requirement is from 1st of April 2010 being lowered to 50 000 SEK. In common law jurisdictions such as United Kingdom and USA a minimum-capital requirement does not exist. The european main argument to keep such a requirement is that it accomplishes a creditor protection.

ABSTRACTOverweight and obesity is an increasing problem worldwide although high-income Countries take a leed. High BMI during pregnancy and delivery constitute to many risks for both the mother and her outcome. Intervention programmes with the purpose to get the pregnant women to eat healthier and to excercise more are now working out in many different shapes. The effect of these activities varies. The aim of this study was to investigate if interventions during pregnancy, with women who?s BMI are 25 or more, affects health of the mother and her expected child, delivery outcome and self estimated health.

The Countries in the European Union have agreed to increase their percentage renewable energy sources to 20 %. To reach this goal an increase of biomass production needs to be made. One way of achieving this is by using nonnative species. Poplar in Sweden produces biomass faster than the domestic trees. In the southern parts of Sweden plantations has been made with good results. In the northern parts survival is a problem that needs to be solved before plantations can be made for commercial use.

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on Countries' gross domestic product.

This thesis describes possibilities for Metso Paper to lower their costs of spray pipes for their pulp wash press TRPE, with maintained good functionality and quality.Information that can be used by competitors has been censored in this version of the essay.To find solutions, alternative suppliers have been contacted and asked to quote. There has also been a new spray pipe designed. The manufacturing costs of the new design have been calculated.The thesis also contains a concept generation of an alternative product to the spray pipes in installations where a high pressure washer is used.To be able to ask other manufacturers of spray pipes to quote, a demand specification based on the currently used spray pipe was made. This was then sent to two alternative suppliers.An investigation of earlier used spray pipes, and the currently used, shows that the nozzles are a big part of the total costs of the spray pipes. To attempt to reduce the nozzles high cost an concept generation was made to find the best solution for a new design.There was a request that it should be possible to change the internal brushes in the spray pipe without cutting and welding.

When a country faces a decline in business activity, companies have to struggle to gain external capital. It is even more important for small enterprises to get capital, as they normally do not have enough collateral to receive traditional bank loans. In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank started with micro credit programs in the early 90?s, that included small capital loans and leasing of machines. Nowadays these micro credit programs have developed to function even in industrialized Countries.

All around the world there are several armed conflicts, where rape is used as a weapon of war against the civilian population. Many take refuge from their Countries of origin and may end up in Sweden, where they build a new life for themselves. What preparation is there to welcome these women and help them obtain a deeper sense of psychological well-being? The aim of this study was to reach an understanding of how professionals view the meeting between themselves and women who have been subjected to rape in times of armed conflict, as well as how the work with this group could be improved. The study had a qualitative approach and has been carried out with semi-structured interviews.

Researchers, planners, and government agencies agree that road safety for children must be a priority and in particular that children should have a safe and secure way to travel to and from school regardless of age or the distance travelled. In Sweden, child traffic safety is a key part of the country?s Nollvision, a long-term traffic policy goal of ?no deaths or serious injuries?. Unfortunately, many Countries have recorded increases in child traffic accidents as the percentage of parents who drive their children to school and thus congestion around schools has increased. Common strategies include traffic safety education for children, the redesign and improvement of traffic infrastructure, bicycle training, and carpooling.This thesis assesses the traffic problem around Ludvigsberg School in the district Valbo in Gävle, Sweden.

Mobility Management is about affecting and changing the demand of mobility. It?s not about what traditional planning?s been focused on; to supply for the demand. The demand of mobility is created by us humans since the traffic exists of us. That means that Mobility Management is about changing our needs.

The aim of this thesis is to study the cause of Egypt´s failed development of the transition to democracy and vice versa, the reason why Turkey succeeded in democratic transition. Thesis methodology is a comparative analysis between design units Egypt and Turkey. Thus, the most similar design used in the investigation.European Commission began in 1998 to review Turkey´s political and economic reforms to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. 2005 began negotiations on a Turkish- EU membership. U.S and Egypt have enjoyed close economic, security and democratic cooperation since 1975.

The purpose of this paper is to study what the press in Sweden wrote about counterfeiting from 1944 to 1950. By studying how the newspapers wrote about the crime of counterfeiting, the paper aims to give a glimpse of how counterfeiters worked and got their notes in circulation. The analysis is based on a theoretical perspective of a "we" and "they" in which Sweden is compared to the opposite abroad. The paper examines how the security of Swedish banknotes is discussed in Swedish news articles and how they describe counterfeiters and passers. The paper examines forty one newspaper clippings from the period 1944-1950 from twenty five different newspapers from different parts of the country.