The fungus Gremmeniella abietina causes damage to conifers that can lead to tree death. In 1999 and 2001 the pathogen caused severe attacks in Sweden, where about 500 000 ha of pine forest were affected. Trees of all ages were attacked, but mainly forests between 30-60 years that were ready for their first commercial thinning. After recommendations from the forest agency, sanitary fellings were made to trees that had more needle loss than 85%, a total of about 50 000 ha. Economic losses have been estimated to more than one billion SEK.

This study examines from a gender perspective how the gender distribution is viewed in the content of Göteborgs-Posten's sports pages and the short and long term effects of the the newspaper's gender equality plan that was introduced in 2005. It is a quantitative study for two sample periods, 2005 and 2009, that investigates how many articles in the newspaper which is about women's sports and male sports. Michel Foucault's theory of discourse is central to the study, his view of identity in society and how these are represented fit well on gender issues in sports journalism. The results show that women's sport is greatly subordinate to man's sport in terms of number of articles. The gender equality plan has not had any noticeable effects on Göteborgs-Posten's sports pages. This is due to a variety of factors ? economic aspects weigh heavily in this problem. .

The aim of thesis was to, through a action research study and through individual interviews with five students, clarify their perspective on educational assistance in high school. The study shows that students prefer teaching in small groups outside of regular whole class because it gives the them access to the factors they consider crucial for a functioning support-time whit a skilled and dedicated teatcher, in a calm and safe environment. Moreover, the students claim the importance of technical equipment especially in the Swedish subject, but also in other subjects. Today the educational assistance varies from an outside-the-class teaching situation to a whole-class situation with teacher support as well as technicaal equipment. When the student were asked to describe the cinditions under which studies can be conducted with the whole class they tried to imitate the learning environment they have in a small group.

The Swedish do-it-yourself (DIY) market has expanded in recent years and is today a SEK90 billion market. Competition is fierce, however, and the DIY retail chains compete over market share with extensive marketing campaigns. Advances in computer technology have made it possible to acquire and compile huge quantities of point of sale data. However, due to a lack of economic theories and statistical methods, this data cannot be effectively utilized and the effects of the campaigns are not measured in any detail. In this study a new method was used to examine the effects of marketing campaigns in the DIY consumer market.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine the arguments that are being used when closing and establishing peoples libraries. During the 90:ies, in the community of Gothenburg, 4 public libraries were closed and another 3 public libraries were opened. A possible reason for this change lies in the reform from the city Committee that split the community of Gothenburg into 21 pieces; all with one centrally appointed political Committee. The library activity has since the reform was implemented got worse in some areas, foremost in the already neglected city sections, and better in some areas, which where able to establish new libraries. Argumentation analysis indicates that the arguments used at closure where mainly economical and neither the number nor relevance and validity of the arguments where good.

This study is done on behalf of Södra skogsägarna in the autumn of 2012. The main purpose of the study is to get an explanation to why some of the members are passive in their forestry, and how Södra can stimulate them to become more active. To achieve this a questionnaire study was conducted on the members of Södra in the community of Gislaved. The result of the study shows that there are many different factors that influence whether the forest owner is active or not. Examples of those factors are timber prices, the forest owner's objectives and the forest owner's financial situation. The main goal for the forest owners in the survey was to obtain high economic result and to increase the standing timber volume for the next generation.

The aim of the current study was to examine the radical right-wing sympathizers in Sweden. To fulfill this aim, a quantitative case study on Sweden Democrats sympathizers was conducted. More specifically, this study has examined socio-economic backgrounds and political attitudes of the Sweden Democrat sympathizers. The results show that sympathizers of Sweden Democrats are higher among younger people and men. The results also show a higher support for Sweden Democrats among people with lower education and low income that also live in small towns and in the countryside.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to illustrate Serbia?s democratic development on the basis of consolidate democratic perspective. Linz & Stepan´s five arenas (political, civil, economic, legal and bureaucratic) are required for the possibility to become a consolidate democracy. In order to fulfil the aim, I have chosen to focus on the political and civil arenas that are most central in the study of consolidate democracy.The purpose of this study is to process how far Serbia has come towards a consolidate democracy and which obstacles still remain in the transition.The questions in this study are:? What problems has Serbia faced since the democratic transition in the beginning of 1990?? What possibilities are there for Serbia to consolidate the democracy, with focus on the two key arenas of consolidation?By applying the theoretical framework to the data, I have been able to present answers and build up an analysis.

During recent years, financial innovation has given rise to numerous structured investment opportunities aimed towards the general public. These have enabled private investors to engage in high-risk investments offering as much as 400 per cent leverage while oftentimes not fully having grasped the risk involved. The issuers of these securities have been criticized for using advertising of a too aggressive and misleading nature.By presenting 819 potential investors with two different investment opportunities yielding the same return over a six day period, we have aimed to assess whether the inclination of being affected by judegmental heuristics varies with factors such as knowledge, overall attitude towards the asset class, risk appetite and experience from previous investments.We have observed that investors' perception of the attractiveness of an investment can be distorted by altering the information presented to the investor. However, our findings show that this tendency decreases with an increased level of knowledge, experience and risk appetite..

This essay examines the debate that arose in connection to the sale of Carl Larsson?s monumental painting Midvinterblot in 1987. My main purpose is to examine which meanings the debaters ascribed Midvinterblot and in which way the debate influenced the paintings significance as cultural heritage. I will therefore argue that the debate initiated a renegotitation of the paintings meaning as cultural heritage. In the debate the debaters emphasized the National Museum?s responsibility over cultural heritage, Midvinterblots aestethic, the paintings economic value and its national implications.

The enormous expansion of knowledge society has lead to a path away from the industrial enterprises toward the more knowledge-based entrepreneurship companies. This development has also meant that intellectual capital now can be seen as the core of the new business structure. However the growth has not been reflected in either the legal or the economic regulations in relation to what could have been expected, which means that there is thus a gap between de lege lata and de lege ferenda. This can specifically been seen regarding the prohibition of adding property other than cash applied in payment for shares or regarding issue of new shares when it comes to work and services. The prohibition may therefore be considered to stand against the knowledge companies? advancement.

The purpose of this essay is to examine formations of gender and class of so called horse girls in a riding school located in Stockholm, Sweden. The essay is based on interviews with six girls in the ages between fifthteen and eighteen. Through the theoretical framework of Judith Butler and Beverley Skeggs, I examine how the girls negotiate the boundaries and probabilities within doing gender in an upper and middleclass associated area. As a result of its female domination, the stable functions as a place where the girls can dislocate themselves from otherwise normative feminine practises. This is possible since the premises of the stable are constructed in the light of the heterosexual matrix, where the girls organise themselves within the heterosexual girl collective.

This is a thesis about the American empire. I also focus my work to see if this American empire is declining. The two main questions I ask and want to answer in this thesis are: is America an empire and is it in decline?I first conclude that America has been an empire ever since the end of the Second World War. The sheer military and economic power of the American empire matches and exceeds the ones before them.

This thesis highlights the complex relationship between social movements and the mass media. The new social movements really have to struggle to get access to the media sphere, often enforced to use spectacular media strategies, and at the same time maintain their political messages. This struggle gives us reason to question the liberal notion of the media as a neutral arena for political communication and debate. In fact we argue that the media industry should be seen as a powerful actor and that the mass media serves to maintain and enforce an ideology that serves the political and economic elites in the liberal capitalist democracy. The Social movements that seek to question these elites and present an alternative, as they did during the EU-meeting in Gothenburg 2001, quite clearly gets far from neutral media image of the political actions taking place instead the are portrayed as violent or associated with violence and not presented as legitimate or believable political subjects..

This report is a result of a diplomawork in construction engineering.The goal of this thesis is to highlighthow the work with planning andperformance management is done in theprojects at the Swedish buildingcontractor Skanska Väg & anläggning,region Stockholm/Mälardalen, districtMark Stockholm North, compared toSkanska?s policies.The comparison was made with focus onfive tools for productivity. The toolsare as follow: broken-down schedule,work sets, visual control, performancemanagement/progress monitoring and bestpractice.The study showed that the usage of thedifferent tools varied both within andbetween the different projects.Practically none of the projects whereusing the tools progress monitoring andbest practice, mostly due to fewoperations being applicable. The worksets are now mostly documented, but theyare rarely followed up. Performancemanagement is somewhat inconsequentialfor the moment, but during 2011 targetsheets will be introduced, withtemplates for setting up targets.Scheduling is one of the most importantworks regarding planning.