Swedish students' knowledge of both mathematics and reading comprehension has deteriorated in recent years. Scientists are discussing whether there is a connection between these areas and that the pupils deteriorating math skills may have something to do with their increasingly lower results in terms of reading comprehension. To investigate this possible connection, I conducted a survey among students in ninth grade and have come to the conclusion that the scientists are right: this connection absolutely exist. Students who received a high score on tasks designed to test students' mathematical problem-solving skills, also received high results on the reading comprehension test. And students who received a poor performance on the problem-solving tasks, were also low performers in the reading comprehension test.

Hälsobokslutet är ett relativt nytt begrepp som härstammar från flera olika redovisningsläror. På grund av den höga sjukfrånvaron i Sverige har regeringen utformat en handlingsplan med syfte att minska ohälsan. En del i denna handlingsplan är den om hälsobokslut. Syftet med hälsobokslutet är att företagen ska bli mer medvetna om den hälsostatus som råder på arbetsplatsen och utifrån det genomföra hälsorelaterade åtgärder.Syftet är att beskriva två olika hälsobokslutsmodeller och sedan jämföra tre genomförda hälsobokslut sinsemellan samt med modellerna. Syftet är även att klarlägga implementeringsarbetet och utröna om hälsoboksluten lett till några effekter i landstingen.För att få en förståelse för begreppet hälsobokslut och kunna besvara uppsatsens syfte används den kvalitativa metoden.

During my final examination project, I have been working with a design process to develop a new set of candle lanterns for the company Sagaform AB. This company has a large and significant role on the Swedish interior design and retail market. The assignment was developed when the company stated that they would like to supplement and expand its existing range of products. The research and surveys I have done have helped me to create eight different concepts and one of them ready to compete with the existing candle lanterns on the market. The result of my concept proposal expected to be included in Sagaform?s 2013 spring catalogue. During the project I have developed 3D-rendered images, a physical model, and a solid foundation for making prototypes. The Balloon has an attractive design language that fits both every day and more festive events.

In recent decades here has been a huge development in information technology (IT), where we humans are increasingly using IT in our daily lives, ranging from social media to music streaming services; this has also been a reflection of the technologies developed to our cars. Infotainment systems have become an increasingly regular feature in modern cars where the high degree of integration such as navigation, mobile and Internet has become more common and more sought after. Despite this, relatively little research problemized User Experience of a complex infotainment system in a car. This study thus has the intention to consider the relevance of reality based tests by examining how the user experiences a complex infotainment system in a car. We asked ourselves; How do the user experience a complex infotainment system in a car? We conducted our qualitative study, an interview with researchers in the field of vehicle and road safety and designed a number of system-related activities in a test session where we observed three users.

This thesis examines the emissions costs of Swedish aviation and their degree of internalisation under current economic instruments. The results show that the degree of internalisation spans from practically zero for a long-haul flight to 6 per cent for a typical domestic flight, where the climate cost, including high-altitude impact, makes up the main part of the cost. To inform evaluation of the consequences of this underinternalisation, or attempts to correct for it using price instruments, the price and income elasticities of international leisure air travel from Sweden are estimated using household expenditure data and two different price measures. The resulting elasticities are very high ? 2.03 or 2.04 for the income elasticity and -2.53 or -1.88 for the price elasticity ? and should be interpreted cautiously due to data limitations, especially for the price elasticities.

Det växande intresset för miljöfrågor har ökat kraven på företagen. Intressenterna kräver att företagen kan hantera miljöfrågorna på ett tillfredsställande sätt. Att införa ett miljöledningssystem är ett sätt att arbeta med miljöfrågorna. För att kommunicera ut miljöarbetet används företagets miljöredovisning. Under 1990-talet har intresset för miljöredovisning ökat kraftigt men är i mångt och mycket fortfarande ett storföretagsfenomen.

This thesis consists of three parts: one normative, one empirical and one constructive, with the intention to explore the enforcement of accountability in megaprojects.The thesis aims to evaluate the level of accountability in the policy process of the European Spallation Source, ESS between 1990 and 2008. In order to make a comparison possible, a norm is created concerning how a policy process should be designed, with primary focus on openness and participation, to make enforcement of accountability possible. The policy process of the ESS is compared with this norm with the purpose of discovering whether the process contains elements that assure enforcement of accountability. After the comparison is done, it is possible to formulate constructive proposals about how the enforcement of accountability can be improved.The thesis also explores how networks, consisting of actors with particular resources, surrounding the ESS-project affects the form of the policy process, e.g. in shaping the social construction of the aim and purpose of the project.

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited.

Purpose: From an activity-perspective examine the meaning of housing accessibility and older persons´ perception of participation. Method: Systematic literature review of articles searched in the databases, Medline, Pubmed, Ahmed, Cinahl, Scopus and Google Scholar. Search on individual keywords, and in various combinations of the words home environment, home modification, occupational therapy, aging, accessibility and participation. Nine scientific articles were examined. Results: The articles were published between 2005 and 2009.

During the late 19: th century the park Tivoli in Halmstad, today called Norre Katts park, was known as one of the most beautiful amusementparks of southern Sweden. This is a description that hardly anyone would use to portray the park today. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate what the park once looked like and how it has changed until today?s neglected state. The history of the place and by who and for whom the park with; 4 ½ acers with meandering paths, caves, an avenue, leaf halls and bowers, was created. Who designed the park in the year of 1843 is an unrequited question.

AbstractThis study examines the conclusions made by Roland Paris in his case study of fourteen major post-war reconstruction efforts following the end of the Cold War, and applies them to the current reconstruction process in post-war Iraq. Paris found a common denominator of the fourteen cases ? a belief that a rapid liberalization process, turning war-torn states into liberal market democracies, would foster sustainable peace. Paris calls this belief ?Wilsonianism? after Woodrow Wilson, who was one of the first advocates of it.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore nurses' experiences of informing relatives to critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).MethodThe study was descriptive with a qualitative approach. Nine nurses were interviewed. The study took place in a university hospital in the midst of Sweden. An interview guide was used, designed in consensus with the study questions. Data was analyzed via qualitative content analysis.FindingsMeeting and preparing relatives at the arrival at the ICU seemed valuable and led to safety and participation among relatives.

This report is the result of a thesis as been implemented during the spring term 2009 atthe University of Gävle.The company Bruks produces mobile chippers which are used for chipping loggingslash, roundwood and parts of trees. The chipper is powered by a separate diesel engineand the chipper can be assembled on trucks, trailers or some other carrier vehicles.When the chip has passed the chipper drum, the chip is collected in an integrated binwhich is mounted on the vehicles frame with dumping yokes. When these dumpingyokes were designed they were probably created with large material dimensions. Theaim with the degree project is hence to study the strengths of materials and, if possible,to suggest an arrangement that can decrease the total weight on the dumping yoke onBruks´ mobile chippers 805 CT.The CAD-program Pro/ENGINEER was used during the project for outlining the 2Ddrawings,as distributed of constructors on Bruks, to solid 3D-parts. The three-dimensionalassembly from Pro/ENGINEER was transferred to Pro/MECHANICA.

Web 2.0 represents the next generation of creating interactive applications on the Web. The purpose of this thesis was to develop a service tailored to Web 2.0 technology, where users can post ads for free. The platform is an advertising system specially designed for animals. Surveys and interviews have been done; the result is that today?s advertising services on the Internet are not interactive and user-friendly.The users have the possibility to adapt different part of the system to their needs, such as choice of themes.

This report gives an overview of applications of the Greenroads rating system whichin turn is an environmental review system for roads. The focus of this report isapplications during the construction phase, ie on solutions which adhere to theentrepreneur's area of responsibility as opposed to the designer's. The study was undertaken in cooperation with Skanska (a global contractor andFortune 500 company) which provided a project suitable for an exemplatory study ofGreenroads. Please note that the project in particular was not specifically designedwith Greenroads in mind. Therefore and because of that the site provided anexcellent opportunity to study effects of application contra non-application. The approach of this study was to first review the system, thereafter to performinterviews with key personel at the site in different roles as to receive different viewsof selected points of application. Selected possibilities of application are cathegorizedand presented with comments and suggestions for adoption. Lastly Greenroads is briefly compared to the rating system which today is the mostwidely used by Skanska, LEED.