Research suggests that society's vulnerability to natural disasters along coasts could increase as a result of climate change, which is likely to lead to elevated sea levels and possibly an increase in the occurance of meteorological phenomena such as storms and tropical cyclones. Following the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, both of which received considerable media attention, empirical data has indicated that coastal vegetation might be able to protect and reduce damages to coastal communities during tsunami events and tropical cyclones.The aim of the essay has been to study the function of coastal ecosystems as protection against tsunami waves and storms from a risk management perspective, meaning that I have, through an overview of scientific articles, compiled current research on how coastal ecosystems can attenuate storm surges and tsunami waves, and analysed how this knowledge can be put into practice in coastal communities from a risk management perspective, i.e. if coastal ecosystems are a viable risk reduction measure, are practically applicable, and if so, how they could be applied.There is empirical evidence suggesting that coastal ecosystems, particularly mangroves, can reduce the strength of a tsunami wave, but full scientific consensus on this issue has not yet been reached. With regard to protection against storm surges, there is extensive scientific evidence that coastal vegetation can mitigate damages and reduce the height of a storm surge, although the wave has to traverse several kilometres inland through thick vegetation for the protection to be effective. A synthesis in the form of a figure regarding the many physical factors that influence wave development through coastal ecosystems has been created in an attempt to simplify and explain the phenomenon.The conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems can be justified from a risk management perspective, but planting new forest belts for the purpose of disaster mitigation is quite unrealistic and can rarely be sustainable, since, for protection to be effective, the forest belt must extend several kilometres inland from the coast, and would thus likely prove difficult to implement along coastal societies..

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

Intraprenörskap är ett relativt okänt begrepp i jämförelse sin motsvarighet entreprenörskap. Intraprenören kan stå för förnyelse och mervärdesskapande inom en redan etablerad organisation. För att besvara problemformuleringen ?Vilken inverkan samt betydelse kan individen och den organisatoriska kontexten ha för intraprenörskap?? besvarades forskningsfrågornaFinns det några gemensamma egenskaper att identifiera bland intraprenörer som kan kopplas till dess innovativa arbete?Går det att identifiera några särskilda kontextuella förutsättningar som krävs för att intraprenörskap ska uppstå?Vem, vad eller vilka kan vara skapare av den intraprenöriella organisatoriska kontexten?Studien utfördes genom en kvalitativ metod med hermeneutiskt synsätt samt tolkning. Urvalet utgjordes av sex anställda intraprenörer inom olika organisationer, vilka belönats med bemanningsföretaget Talentia ABs pris för intraprenöriellt arbete.

Minskad tillgång på fossila material och ökade energibehov i värden skapar ett behov av att utveckla alternativa och miljömässigt hållbara lösningar. Biobränsle har därför växt till en av de viktigaste förnyelsebara energikällorna i målet mot ett koldioxidneutralt samhälle. Dock skapar det obearbetade biobränslet problem, på grund av den höga fuktkvoten, mellan 50-150 %. Som en följd finns ett torkbehov som måste lösas på ett miljö- och energieffektivt sätt. Idag står torkningen av biomaterial innan pelletering för 25 % av den totala kostnaden vid pelletstillverkning.Kostnaden för att torka biomaterialet gör det viktigt att effektivisera torkningen, samtidigt bidrar torkningen till utsläpp av miljöfarliga ämnen såsom terpener.

Of all observable societal trends, the proliferation of standardizing processes is striking. Auditing standards are an illustrative example of this. Not only privately owned companies must today make available numbers and key figures to satisfy needs of information and knowledge. Government agencies are increasingly conforming to this trend, adopting standards for quality assurance and monitoring, producing numbers and annual reports ? despite their somewhat ambiguous task and role.

Background: The reasons why this study is conducted is because of the latest recession in the global economy. The current recession has made a lot of companies more aware of its cost, and in order to fit the new harsher economic climate the companies has to be more cost efficient. In order to do so many companies choose to reduce their amount of employees. When this happens in a recession, most of the layoffs are an effect of reactive causes, such as lower incoming orders, and fewer customers. This leads to a problem for the companies that don?t know how these kinds of layoffs will affect the value of the company?s stock.

SAMMANFATTNING När man i tidigare undersökningar studerat betesgång för mjölkkor har klimatet på betet inte beaktats. En höglakterande ko producerar mycket värme som hon måste avge till sin omgivning för att kunna bibehålla sin kroppstemperatur. De sätt som djuret kan avge värme på är begränsade och påverkas av flera klimatfaktorer samt djurets genetiska och biologiska förutsättningar. Antalet dagar som registreringar gjordes under denna studie blev av flera olika anledningar få, 18 dagar. Klimatet utomhus under studien registrerat som globtemperatur varierade från 22,4 till 34,7ºC. Då djurskyddslagen skall främja djurens hälsa och djurets naturliga beteende fick en grupp 126 höglakterande kor möjlighet att välja uppehållsplats under tiden 26 juli till 11 augusti. 2004. Korna fördes ut på betet vid niotiden på förmiddagen och var därefter fria att gå in och ur stallet efter egen vilja tills de togs in för kvällsmjölkning omkring klockan tre påeftermiddagen.

The ambition of this project is to make an overview of the Swedish upholstery industry and to make a suitable complement to the Carl Malmsten upholstery collection.The Swedish furniture industry employs about 20 000 people in 815 companies. Totally the branch had a turnover of 17,5 billion Swedish krona in the year 2000. Of these 815 companies most of them are small family driven companies with low-tech industry. 10 % of the 815 companies stand for 60% of the production. These are large-scale companies and have a hi-tech industry, even compared with other types of industries.

As the media attention society on the world climate change, interest in the environment and social impact has increased. This has in turn made even more companies choose to maintain a sustainability report that contains the three aspects of economic, environment and social impact. The demand for sustainability reports has increased among stakeholders. It has made the companies that establish this form of reports experienced economic benefits. The sustainability report than became a useful way to compete among businesses.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

There have been changes in Earth?s climate system on both global and regional scale since the pre-industrial era and some of these changes are due to human activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels. This calls for the development of engines with a higher efficiency and less harmful emissions. One interesting concept is the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine, which has the advantages of potentially low emissions combined with high efficiency. However, HCCI with diesel fuel requires a relatively long fuel/air mixing time to ensure a "homogenous" charge.

Due to an increased population in cities the need of densification of cities increases. This means that the amount of ecological elements in the city is at risk of decreasing. Ecological services contribute to the city?s climate by softening the negative impacts that densification of cities means. Thus increases the will and ambition in city planning in to preserve greenery.This is an interdisciplinary thesis within the subject of geography that studies Biotope Area Factor (BAF), a planning tool that is used in city planning with the purpose of compensating for lost ecological services associated with new housing estate.

Purpose This thesis tries to create an understanding of how male homosexual entrepreneurs, both as persons and as a concept, relates to the fact that entrepreneurship, as well as the society as a whole, is heteronormative. Moreover, it examines by what methods the male homosexual entrepreneurs cope with the seemingly paradox of a homosexual man who also is an entrepreneur. Method The method has been qualitative from a social construction-point of view. We have made semi-structured interviews with nine male homosexual entrepreneurs and structured the findings from the interviews with a computer programme and mind mapping techniques. We have compared the structured findings with theories, in an abducting manner, to find out an answer to the purpose of this thesis.

During the period 2009-2013, investments in the Swedish national grid increase by a factor of ten compared to previous years. In order to fulfil their mission to manage the national grid in a safe, efficient and environmentally sound way, Svenska Kraftnät (Swedish National Grid) needs to take all these perspectives into account while planning new investments. To compare and relate perspectives of technology, economy and environment the same yard stick must be used. That yard stick is commonly money. A problem arises however as environmental issues are difficult to price.The purpose of this master?s degree project was to develop a tool for evaluation of environmental impact related to investments in the Swedish national grid.

This thesis examines the use of history, historical narratives and the relation to Venezuelan historical consciousness in Libro Rojo, a publication of The Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). It consists of four parts: an introduction, a declaration of principles, statutes and finally what is called the programmatical bases (bases programaticas) of the party.A starting point for this thesis is that this is an under prioritized area of research about the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. It aims to show the centrality of history in these fundamental documents of the biggest left-wing party in Latin America.The thesis finds that symbolically charged historical figures ? mainly national icons of Venezuela´s struggle for national liberation - are mobilized to back up contemporary aspirations and influence public perception of what kind of future is possible and desirable. Libro Rojo structures the relationship between past, present and future in order to influence historical consciousness.It also finds that Libro Rojo constructs a vision of socialism which aims to show that the ideas and actions of Venezuela´s symbolically charged historical figures are compatible with the ideas of 19th and 20th century western Marxism.