Clearcutting systems have been the dominating silvicultural approach during the last decades in the Nordic countries. While economically rational, it is also leading to a trivialisation of the flora and fauna, and may result in negative reactions of people in urban settings. As a consequence of this, and a more diversified view on which goods and services forests should deliver, there is an increasing interest in broadening the range of silvicultural methods that are used. The term continuous cover forestry (CCF) represents a suite of methods that have gained increasing interest in the Nordic countries. In CCF a considerable amount of the trees are left after harvest to favour values that require a continuity of tree-covered areas. There are thus hopes that this method will meet the needs for maintaining biodiversity and satisfy social and cultural values.

This thesis attempts to describe the application of variation theory, as developed by Ference Marton, at a Swedish primary school, intermediate level. The aim of the thesis was to investigate some aspects of a learning process. The students were introduced with the theme of ?sustainable ecological development?. This included theoretical and practical knowledge of the art of sustainable living.

Social workers in the Social Services are seen as professionals and they are associatedwith a substantial degree of freedom to carry out their work in order to interpret theSocial Services Act and make decisions. This freedom is referred to as discretion andis a central aspect of the role of the social worker. But the social worker is employedwithin an organisation that exists in an environment influenced of political decisionswhich sets boundaries to how far the freedom stretches. The general aim with thisthesis is to gain insight in how social workers within the Social Services experiencetheir discretion. Secondary this thesis also aims to explore how discretion is shapedand negotiated.

Large-scale land investments is not a new phenomenon, but increasing prices on food and agrofuels have inflated prices on land and has led to an enhanced interest in landinvestments from a range of different actors. The ProSavana project in the Nacala corridor in the Nampula province, northern Mozambique is a large-scale land investment with the purpose of establishing intensive commercial agriculture and is planned to be implemented this year (2013). The project is financed by Brazil and Japan in collaboration with the government of Mozambique. It is not quite clear how large-scale land investments affect the areas they are implemented in and how they can affect the possibilities for sustainable development in these areas. Both opportunities and problems can be observed within the social, economic and ecological dimensions of sustainable development.

The study is a case study about the green urban district, East Kvillebäcken, located in Gothenburg, Hisingen. East Kvillebäcken is the first urban district in Sweden with ambition to build sustainable according to the certification system Miljöbyggnad, which make it a pioneer project. The purpose is to investigate the upcoming and the meaning of the green urban district in East Kvillebäcken and show how public employees think the urban district can affect social, ecologic and economic aspects in the area. Dialogue interviews were done with four public employees, one estate agent and two residents. Local plans and other authority documents were used to get a deeper understanding for the case study.

In this thesis, a case study of Kungens Kurva in Stockholm is made. The municipality of Huddinge has designated the area, which is an external shopping-center, as one of its key development areas in the future. The municipality has established a future vision for the area, which extends until 2030. The vision claims, inter alia, that Kungens Kurva along with Skärholmen will become a vibrant suburb. How well the values and aims of the vision are met in the current area situation is discussed in the case study by a number of analysis that carries out the existing structures and characters of the area.

Nation building is vital in post-war states to bring the people that have been at war together. To restore peace in a state, many different actors need to work together to bring stability, safety, and advancement to a new nation. There are several methods of nation building, and this thesis evolves around three of them. This is a qualitative study where three theories on nation building are used to analyze the development of nation building, and the obstacles Bosnia and Herzegovina still has to reach a national identity. Several studies are used in this thesis to show how the development has evolved in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I uppsatsen undersöker vi vilken grupp av låg-, medel- och höginkomsttagare som kan tänkas gynnas mest av det nya pensionssystemet. Vi har gjort beräkningar för att få fram skattning av hur mycket respektive grupp kan tänkas få i pension i förhållande till sin slutlön beroende på hur man placerar sin premie- och tjänstepension. Utifrån dessa resultat har vi även undersökt vilken grupp som har störst nytta av att placera sin premie- och tjänstepension i låg- och högriskfonder. Undersökningen pekade på att ju lägre inkomst man har desto högre kompensationsgrad får man vid placering i högriskfonder. Däremot fick höginkomsttagarna störst nyttoökning av att placera sin pension i högriskfonder.

Forestry has three main aspects to take into consideration today; economical, ecological and socio-cultural. In order to reach the broad policy goals for sustainable forest management, an increased variety of management approaches are requested. Today clear-cutting is the only method used in 96 % of the managed forests in Sweden. The Swedish National Board of Forestry has therefore initiated a project in order to investigate and develop Continuous Cover Forestry (CFF). This study is a part of this project.

To curb greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change is one of the biggest challenges human society face today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has accumulated rapidly in the atmosphere as a consequence of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The aim of this study is to explore two methods to store carbon dioxide in geological formations and biological sinks. The aim is also to discuss the two mitigation options from a sustainable perspective and whether it can lead to a better environment and benefits for local and global societies. The research questions are: Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, is the most effective? Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, has the greatest potential to promote sustainable development for local communities?The method used is a comparative case study and presents four case studies that explore the potential for CO2 storage offshore in Norway and Brazil; and in tropical forests in Mexico and Brazil.

The Third International Assessment of Educational Progress (TIMMS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) during the last decades regarding the results of mathematics teaching shows that China have a better performance than Sweden?s.Swedish teacher-guidelines focus on developing student?s individual interest and confidence for mathematics. In the Chinese teaching-guidelines for Mathematics Curriculum Standards, Ordninary Senior Secondary, the focus is given on: Elevate their mathematics literacy necessary for future citizenship and Development of citizen´s qualities (s.3).Teachers are the primary factors that impact teaching and learning of mathematics. Two teachers from Sweden and two from China were interviewed and their methods were compared in my study. The aim of my study was to understand mathematics teaching in China and Sweden.

This essay is about personal assistance for persons with considerable intellectual disabilities.The purpose with the study is: to examine personal assistance for individuals, who can`t speakfor themselves, to examine how the individuals can determine and get influence into theirassistance and how they can get help with it, to examine the role of an representative inrelation to the serviceuser´s assistance and examine if there are factors of gender in theinterviews.The chosen method is qualitative interviews.The interviews has been analysed through earlier research about personal assistance andtheoretical perspectives like: influence, integration and citizenship and discussed throughperspectives of social psychology.The main conclusions are: the influence the serviceusers can have is through persons whoknow them very well, the role of the representatives are indistinct, the serviceusers can´tdetermine their assistance themselves and need help with it from relatives, representatives,personal assistants and managers, the persons who know the serviceuser intimately are best totransform the needs to assistance. The factors of gender, are that there are more men aspersonal assistants than in the care of elderly, and the representatives are mostly men. Thepersonal assistants appreciates the time they have for the serviceuser, the work can be lonelyand demanding..

When the purpose is to create an illustration plan for a new neighbourhood there arelots of things to think about. In this report follows a description of the three differentplan modells SCAFT/TRÅD, garden city and ekological planning. SCAFT is aplanning model that were used in the 1970s. It contains proposals how to make thetraffic enviorment safer. TRÅD replaced SCAFT in 1982 and it contains also adviceshow to make the traffic enviorment safer.

Understensho?jden is Stockholm's largest eco-village which was built in the early 1990s with the vision of enabling ecological living for people. However the ecovillage is no longer considered as environmentally friendly because of its relatively high energy consumption, and non-updated energy system. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how Understensho?jden should reduce their energy consumption and upgrade its energy system by using Blower-Door, IR-camera and Design Builder.

Authorities, municipalities and county councils have great opportunities to pave the way to a sustainable society. In the public sector, the tax revenue is used and therefore it is important that both employees and societal stakeholders feel that they participate in the sector?s decisions and fields of application. Municipalities and county councils are primarily service organisations. The employees? commitment is necessary to be able to reach set goals, to develop procedures and policies that support the overall political goals, in other words, to be successful in the environmental work.