Libraries all over the world struggle against the threat of decreased funding and a lack of governmental interest. In countries with an under-developed library sector the interest from the government is often minimal or non-existent. Since the 80´s Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has contributed to the library development in Central America through the Royal Library of Sweden. Nicaragua was the first country to be counterpart in the project. For a period of eight weeks I have completed a field study in Nicaragua and visited the National Library Rubén Darío and public libraries in the country.

During the 90s most companies organized and adopted routines for their environmental work. This work included for example eco-efficiency improvements and the introduction of environmental managing systems. At the UN conference in Rio in 1992 the concept Sustainable development was defined, but it was not until about the year of 2000 that companies in Sweden shifted their work from environmental management to sustainable management. A consequence of this is that they now have to focus on environmental aspect in conjunction with social and economic aspects.The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of what a change of focus to sustainable development means for companies. Has the environmental work suffered in the competition with social/economical aspects under the new sustainable focus? How will the new way of working affect the balance between environmental and social aspects? Changes were studied in five companies by analysing their annual-, environmental- and sustainability reports and through interviews of sustainable managers.

Compulsive gambling has lately become a more common and serious issue in our society. The number of compulsive gamblers is constantly increasing alongside the growth of the gambling industry and the consequences of compulsive gambling include both economical and social disasters. Every addiction has a start, and so does compulsive gambling, which is why we chose to perform a survey in order to determine the possible causes to why individuals are drawn to gambling and what leads them into compulsive gambling, and also during which circumstances do they find the strength and will to come out of their addiction to gambling. The theories that are used in this paper include globalization, socialization, Bauman´s consumption society and empowerment, alongside the six phases of gambling by Custer and Milts, describing the way in and the way out of compulsive gambling. This survey is one of the qualitative kind, which means that the chosen theories are connected to the ten interviews that were done with gamblers of various kinds.

The purpose of these theses is to show the financial economical situation during the change from conventional dairy production to ecological production. The thesis is accomplished by collecting information from literature and interviews where needed. The target group of these theses is dairy producers who will transform their production from conventional dairy production to certified ecological dairy production. The theses emphasise on the economic situation during the adjustment years. For this I have studied a presently producing dairy farm.

If one looks at physical planning in Sweden today one can see that while talking about densification of existing development, reduced emissions and careful use of important land, urban sprawl is a fact with development of sheer residential districts in the urban edges and shopping malls in each and every municipality. As sustainable development is an essential goal for physical planning to strive towards, it is worth questioning if the direction of today?s planning will lead to the goal. A sustainable development can be seen as an obvious to goal aim at. In reality the aim means a hard and complex work.

The transition from having been under another country?s control to becoming a democratic country can, many times, pose difficulties, which has proven itself to be quite common. Estonia and Moldova?s processes towards a democratic regime are two examples of countries with varied success in the final transition phase.When the USSR (Soviet union) fell and collapsed in 1991 Estonia was well on their way from having a communistic ruling to a democratic one due to the fact that their democratic work had already begun a few years prior to 1991. After the collapse Estonia continued with their democratic work and in 2004 the country became a EU member state.

The aim of this paper is to study how multiculturalism is expressed in the Swedish labour market policy. The method used for the investigation is a discourse analysis which study social and political processes in the society as created through language. The perspective of the discourse analysis is a social construction that considers that language is a social production created in a discursive way. It produces and reflects social process in the language.By using theories of national identity and multiculturalism we aim to investigate how multiculturalism is expressed in the labour market policy. With this method we aim to analyze the discourse of a political report made 2008 by the current government about integration strategies in Sweden.

The transition from having been under another country?s control to becoming a democratic country can, many times, pose difficulties, which has proven itself to be quite common. Estonia and Moldova?s processes towards a democratic regime are two examples of countries with varied success in the final transition phase.When the USSR (Soviet union) fell and collapsed in 1991 Estonia was well on their way from having a communistic ruling to a democratic one due to the fact that their democratic work had already begun a few years prior to 1991. After the collapse Estonia continued with their democratic work and in 2004 the country became a EU member state.

The aim of this paper is exploring questions regarding the problem of absenteeism among high-school students in Sweden. Fifteen students attending an urban high-school have been interviewed about their views and experiences of absenteeism. The author analyzes the students? answers by taking into account two different sociological approaches which give two different explanations about the way young people experience and estimate education. The French sociologist Bourdieu theorized that differences in cultural capital influence the permanent internalization of patterns of thought and behavior.

This master thesis is about art activity in the public library. The essay takes its starting point from Government cultural political directives and my purpose has been to study how these are followed up in the municipal level. My survey takes place at the main library of Flen in the county of Södermanland. What I am looking for is, what the art activity looks like, what is decided regarding it and what the strategies are. Furthermore I look into how library visitors understand and participate in the art activity.

Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration,Mid Sweden University in ÖstersundSpring term 2008Title: Abolishment of statutory audit ? a qualitative research on banks attitude when credit rating small businessesAuthor: Rima Harouki, Carina HoffmannSupervisor: Anna-Maria JanssonBackground & problem: In Sweden the statutory audit has been mandatory for every corporation since 1983. With the membership in European Union it became possible to allow exception from statutory audit for small businesses, according to the fourth commission of EG. Today, in the European Union, there are few countries that still have statutory audit for smaller businesses, Sweden is one of them. There are discussions about whether Sweden should follow the trend of abolishment and an analysis management by the justice of the Supreme Court Bo Svensson was recently presented, which ended in the conclusion that statutory audit ought to be abolished.

Title: The decisive opinion - A qualitative study of consumers opinions of eight Swedish fashion companies.Seminar date: 2008-01-14Course: Candidate thesis media and communication, 15 ECTS,Authors: Micela Danielsson, Frida ÅhsAdvisor: Larsåke LarssonFive keywords: Profile, Image, Brand, Fashion and AdvertisingPurpose: The purpose with this study is to evaluate and discuss the connection between profile and the companies? image in the eye of the consumer.Methodology: A qualitative method has been used in the paper, focusgruops interview with respondents from Örebro.Theoretical perspectives: The overall theory of the paper is describing fashion theory. profile, identity and image and advertising.Empirical foundation: Consumers from Örebro have made a contribution to the basis of our empirical study.Conclusions: The results show that fashion and clothes play a big part for the consumers and they ascribe it the part as a way to show their identity, image and express them selves. For none of the companies profile and image did not have a full connection, but a lot of times there were parts of the profile and image that had a connection. The questioned states that they get their opinions from merchandise, stores, store employees and different kinds of advertising.

Cattle production systems are changing to bigger intensified systems with larger numbers of animals per farm and more free range systems while at the same time employing fewer people. Aversive handling has been known to affect cattle production negatively for many years, but lately scientists have started to focus more on what positive effects gentle handling and positive human-cattle interactions may have on beef and dairy production. Fear can cause high stress in production animals and this can contribute to not only reduced production within beef and dairy cattle, but also increased risks for accidents and decreased animal welfare. Therefore, by reducing the fear cattle experience of humans, it could be possible to increase production, decrease accidents and increase the welfare of the animals. Reducing the animals fear and stress can be done by simple means, such as walking and talking calmly around the cattle, associating humans to positive feelings (such as feed) and stroking the cattle?s body regions associated with social grooming.

Today?s climate research shows that the climate may increase its temperature. One sector that is being threatened by global warming is the winter tourism of the Swedish municipality A?re. Tourism is an important economical source of income in A?re and is now threatened by a shortened winter season.

If one looks at physical planning in Sweden today one can see that while talking about densification of existing development, reduced emissions and careful use of important land, urban sprawl is a fact with development of sheer residential districts in the urban edges and shopping malls in each and every municipality. As sustainable development is an essential goal for physical planning to strive towards, it is worth questioning if the direction of today?s planning will lead to the goal. A sustainable development can be seen as an obvious to goal aim at. In reality the aim means a hard and complex work.