In this thesis I analyse civilizations in South America. I construct civilizationalnarratives through the method of emplotment, to build a historic continuity, whichI subsequently connect to the theoretical framework. The theory emphasise that,when confronted with globalization and free market capitalism, civilizationsembark on different strategies to challenge the power of transnational marketforces. I find that South America is a polarised continent, and is divergingconcerning the relationship towards the USA and free trade agreements. On thesame time the issues that concern the social movements are not being reproducedin a significant matter at state level.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine the picture book canonization process in pre-schools. To succeed in this I have examined what pre-school staff believe to be the criteria of a good picture book. Together with an observation of the pre-schools current collection, other factors which can influence the collection of the picture book are included. This constitutes the foundation for a description of the pre-school picture book canon. To pursue this goal, I have used the methodology of focus group interviews with staff from two pre-schools in a middle-sized town.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the established law and make researches into non-institutional compulsory care (?mellantvång?) paragraph 22 The Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (from now on called LVU) and examine whether the administration of the law is in harmony with the best interests of the child.This paper combines two methods : traditional judicial method and a social science method. In the juridical part the sources of law have been studied and in the social sciences part semi-structured interviews have been conducted with five respondents. The theoretical framework consists of ideas and theories about the best interests of the child, a concept which is one of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child's core principles.This study shows that the legislator has identified a problem and an existing need and found a solution to this by introducing a non-institutional compulsory care, paragraph 22 LVU. The problem is that Social Services do not make use of the restraint.

The purpose of the study is to highlight educators' preferences and attitudes towards tablet in preschool by describing the use of this digital tool in the preschool educational activities. The use of tablet in preschool is in the study looked upon as a phenomenon. The description of the phenomenon is built on the analysis and interpretation of educators' statements about it. The research questions focus on the following aspects: educators' attitudes towards the tablet and its use in pre-school educational activities, the tablet's current area of use, the culture surrounding the use of this digital tool and the educators? statements about advantages and disadvantages of tablet's use in preschool.

The aim of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of how young people's current identity is affected by their criminal background. We also want to understand the impact of resources in these young people?s social networks (that is their social capital) on their life course and formation and reformation of their identity. The theoretical frameworks used (as a tool to be able to analyze the empirical data) are theories of stigma, identity and social capital. The empirical study was conducted using semi-structured interviews that focused on questions about the life-story of informants.

Mountain holding in the 21st century ? difficulties and possibilities This study examines the difficulties and possibilities that mountain holding farmers have today. The following questions were considered: i) Who is cultivating mountain holdings today? ii) Which is the most important reason to keep animals there? iii) What kind of subsidies are most common? iv) What kinds of animals and what breeds are the most common? v) For how long period of time are the animals kept at the mountain holdings every season? vi) How are the fundamental regulations in the animal welfare law being followed, and are there any problems/conflicts in keeping animals at the mountain holdings? vii) What meaning do the animals have for the farmers and what are the farmer?s thoughts about the future? A survey based on these issues was sent out to 107 mountain holdings farmers with animals on grazing land, where 59 % submitted a response. The results showed that knowledge on how to keep animals at the mountain holdings was overall good.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between birth order, academic performance and need for achievement. 166 students from Alvesta Gymnasium/ High school and Växjö Fria Gymnasium/ High school participated in the study. The result showed a significant correlation between birth order and study result, but unlike previous studies this study showed that it was the youngest siblings that had the best academic performance. Furthermore, a significant correlation between academic performance and need for achievement was found, also that higher need for achievement results in higher academic performance. The study also showed that there is a significant correlation between birth order and need for achievement, and it is the youngest children that have the highest need for achievement.

In 1994 a new Forestry Act was accepted in Sweden. One of its aims was to raise the consideration for preservation of biodiversity. Since this happened over 15 years ago there is now an interest in analyzing if the law has been effective in its purpose. In this study methods suitable for analysis are being investigated. The study contents a pilot study of methods for five parameters that can validate if the law has been followed.

 Car seats for smaller children, offers very good protection incase of a collision. Unfortunately for the parents? sake , these car seats is heavy to handle outside the car. For example back and forth home and short errands around town. In other words, all those times when you decide to just take out the car seat and carry it instead of place the baby in a baby carrier.

During consultation procedures between forest owners and the Sámi, data on, e.g., reindeer lichen biomass on the current site is needed. Hitherto, the existing methods of measuring lichen cover and biomass has been either objective methods such as the Point Intercept method, which is time consuming, or some sort of subjective visual estimation, which is faster but less accurate. However, both these methods are sensitive to different observers and/or to different inventories. This paper addresses the further development and evaluation of a photographical inventory method that uses colour distribution in images to estimate lichen biomass. During the autumn of 2011 six different locations, with different grazing pressure and lichen cover, in Norrbotten county were inventoried using both the Point Intercept method and the photographical method, complemented with collection of biomass samples.

The objectives of this study was to examine the prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a family of British Shorthaircats to determine the mode of inheritance and to investigate if the disease was associated with a mutation in myosin binding proteinC (MyBPC3). The family comprised 28 cats, seven male and 21 females. The cats underwent a physical examination, including cardiac auscultation, and an ultrasound examination. Blood was collected for DNA- analysis. The blodsamples were sent in a buffer solution to Kathryn Meurs, Washington State University, USA for analysis, where the genes coding for MyBPC, Troponin I and T were characterized using microsequencing technique. Out of the 28 cats, 8 were diagnosed with HCM, 2 were diagnosed with congenital heart disease but had no evidence of HCM.

The most important conclusion of this study is that the negotiations between the parties ends when conflicts arise from property owners, and with this the time will be extended and be more costly. During the study it has been shown that good communication is the key to an effective and successful negotiation between the parties.The purpose of this study is to investigate how the practical procedure under expropriation is in relation to the legal text, in other words, describe and analyze the procedure for expropriation under current rules but also to explain how it operated in practice. This is to get a picture of how the process works and what effects it receives.Three methods were used for the study. A literature review for understanding how expropriation relates according to the law. A case study from an ongoing expropriation in Sundsvall municipality, and an interview with seven affected interested parties from the expropriation.Reviewed literature describes how the application of the Expropriation Act must go to as well as other research on the topic.

While conducting our practical training we experienced how the structure and the complexity of the municipal administration could, from a white-collar workers perspective, become a limitation and burden for efficient work. Deriving from this experience we found an interest in how politicians reasoned with regards to their relationship with supervisor in municipal old-age care. Kouzes och Micos (1979) ?Theory of organizational behavior in human service? became our point of departure. Their framework was therefore the foundation for our research and work throughout this paper.Our aim with this research was to examine how politicians viewed their relationship with supervisor in municipal old-age care.

There are several different kinds of bacteria that has developed resistance against the antibiotic agents used in todays medicine. Most of them has evolved from the human health care but several of them has gone over to also cause problems in the animal health care. They often occur as nosocomial infections and the greatest risk of exposure to them is during health care. Since infections with a resistant bacterium can be difficult to treat, it is desirable to prevent this spread, especially since an animal treated in a hospital often is more susceptible to infection, due to their primary condition. In Sweden the current resistance situation is good and is yearly monitored by the Swedish Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring (SVARM) programme.

This thesis examines the tendering process from the point of view of Swedish building contractors. The purpose with the study is to chart the decision process for the contractors during the tendering process. The study is designed as a survey study. This made it possible to reach a wide base of respondents, not letting such factors as geography being an issue. The survey itself was characterised by a very high response rate compared to other similar studies. The result from this study shows that former experience from similar projects, current workload and the clients economic condition are very important factors for both whether or not the contractor will bid for a project as well as the cost estimation and tendering price. Former experience from similar projects is also an important factor for the determination of the indirect costs.