Inventories of epiphytic lichens on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were conducted at three sites in east central Sweden: along the newly build motorway (Road E4), along the old road (Road 600) and in a reference site, to compare the effects of traffic pollution on lichen diversities. At each site, species richness, lichen mean sensitivity value (MK), air quality index of the forest stand/sample plot (LKI) and nitrogen impact value (N) were calculated and it was tested if there was any difference between the sites. Twenty-four species were observed in total, and Parmeliopsis ambigua and Hypogymnia physodes were the most common species at all sites. At Road E4, fewer lichen species were observed than at the other sites and this might be due to the impact of air pollution. The species richness at Road 600 was similar to that of the reference site, which might be explained by the improved air quality.

The present essay concerns Walter Benjamin´s engagement with the concept of critique in four of his early writings from 1916-1928. It revolves around three main themes, or objects of interest: the critique of language [Sprache], the critique of the work [das Werk] and the critique of history [Geschichte]. The main objective of this study is to show how we can understand Benjamin?s conception of critique and how he develops it in regard to language, the work and history. The essay argues that this is a vital part to understand his philosophy in general as well as his later philosophy of history in particular.

The aim of this study is to create understanding of why companies should collaborate with artists and how artists and businesses build strong partnerships. We also want to understand the development of relations between the music industry and companies, together with the problems, possibilities and implications it has for both artists and corporate identity and brand. The music industry has been changing rapidly during the digital revolution and new problems and opportunities have emerged which the music industry can choose to either embrace or renounce. This study is made with a qualitative approach based on interviews with relevant individuals from the music industry. We have carefully chosen these individuals to counterpart different segments of the music industry and to execute our purpose from various perspectives.

Background: Miscarriage is a common phenomenon in our society. It is reported that approximately 17 % of all pregnant women in Sweden go through a miscarriage every year. For many women miscarriage is a tumultuous life event that often has a deep emotional impact. Miscarriage is a subject that often is prohibited to talk about in our western society. Consequently this means that nurses have an important role in the emotional support for these women.

The aim of my bachelor?s thesis is to investigate, through a literature review, changes in the distribution of filamentous algae as well as the general species composition of macroalgae and diatoms in Swedish eelgrass meadows. I have also studied the possibility of tracking these algae and diatoms in eelgrass meadows using eDNA methodology. The focus has been on linking these changes to climate change factors such as eutrophication, temperature increase, and anthropogenic emissions, and how these affect the health of eelgrass meadows and their ecosystem services, such as a carbon sink and biodiversity support. The results show that filamentous algae have increased markedly in coverage in Swedish coastal areas between 1980 and 2021, especially in sheltered bays, indicating that altered environmental conditions favor these fast-growing species. Genetic tracking using eDNA demonstrated that there are functional primers for many species, particularly among brown algae and red algae, whereas green algae require more specific primers due to greater genetic variation.

Author: Madeleine Ahlström and Hanna PuontiTitle: To meet the invisible population - A qualitative study of men with deliberate self-injury [Att möta de osynliga - En kvalitativ studie om killar med självskadebeteende]Supervisor: Anders ÖstnäsAssessor: Jan Petersson This study aims to provide a picture of the underlying causes why men deliberately hurt themselves. It also aims to provide a picture revolving how men self-harm and what the direct effects are from their self-harm. The study describes their behaviour and how the behaviour has evolved over time. There is also a focus in the study to illustrate how society´s operative approach towards men makes their self-harm invisible, and make them an invisible population that neither the scientists nor the general population chooses to see. Self-injury is strongly associated with girls and their way of harming themselves.

The study is based on a new approach on how Swedish healthcare is supposed to be controlled and organized. There is a renowned administration problem within Swedish healthcare, which seems to be an obstacle to exploit the resources to the fullest. The latest venture within the healthcare system is patient involvement, where the patients become co-producers of their own care, which aims to both improve and make healthcare more efficient. A few wards in Sweden have implemented this new approach whereupon the study intends to discuss the effectiveness and efficiency in some of these.The study is restricted to three wards, whereof two of these are inpatient wards and the other one is an outpatient ward, within the medical clinic in Jönköping County Council, which has implemented the patient involvement approach in their daily work. The methodology for this study is qualitative in its nature where a time study of personnel time allocation and supplementary interviews with managing nurses on the wards have been conducted.

This study´s focus was a group of participants of a social movement called The Zeitgeist Movement. The purpose of this study was to understand and convey what causes participants of this movement to engage despite that the prevailing culture teaches them otherwise.With qualitative methodology of participatory observation and semi-structured interviews with ten participants, our objective has been to answer the following questions: What are the driving forces that make these people act, which approach do they have to ?reality? and how do they relate to it, and what are the potential consequences with this approach?The study has shown that their critical and questioning attitude towards their perception of reality and their social constructivist view of it lead to conflicts between them and their fellowmen. The data was then analyzed with Alfred Schütz phenomenological theories in synthesis with Zygmunt Baumans critical societal analysis and theories.The study's focus was on the Gothenburg chapter of the Swedish Zeitgeist Movement. We did not make any comparisons with other national or international chapters of the movement..

This study aims to describe how active guidance counselors can look at the guidance of unaccompanied refugee children by using their experience. The study will focus on advice and the study is based on a qualitative approach in which interviews were conducted with seven guidance counselors. The result shows that there are major differences in how the interviewee?s approach guidance of newly arrived unaccompanied refugee children. There are differences both in terms of the experience of advising newly arrived unaccompanied refugees and in how their role is designed.Also shown are also some similarities; guidance and counseling with newly arrived unaccompanied refugee is described as difficult.

The aim of our study was to examine Swedish crime reporters? approach to the social medium Flashback. Our main focus was the crime reporters? use of the medium Flashback, and attitude towards their own use of media ethics in relation to the medium Flashback.Flashback as a medium is not obliged to any media ethics and lacks a legally accountable publisher. In the search for information about committed crimes people tends to visit Flashback for the information that the traditional media cannot offer.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine health professionals´ experiences of giving advice regarding sleep to parents of infants and to perform and evaluate an intervention in the form of introducing information about the sleep of infants.Method: The study was designed as an intervention study with a qualitative approach where data was collected from two focus groups in the form of interviews. The intervention consisted of the information material Sugen på sömn. There were five participants whom three of them participated in the second interview. The interviews were processed by content analysis.Results: Health professionals´ experience of giving advice on sleep was summarized in three themes. The experiences of giving advice in interaction with parents, health professional themselves experienced the power to influence the parents with the advice they gave, while the parents' previous experience and knowledge impacted on how the advice came into practice.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine health professionals´ experiences of giving advice regarding sleep to parents of infants and to perform and evaluate an intervention in the form of introducing information about the sleep of infants.Method: The study was designed as an intervention study with a qualitative approach where data was collected from two focus groups in the form of interviews. The intervention consisted of the information material Sugen på sömn. There were five participants whom three of them participated in the second interview. The interviews were processed by content analysis.Results: Health professionals´ experience of giving advice on sleep was summarized in three themes. The experiences of giving advice in interaction with parents, health professional themselves experienced the power to influence the parents with the advice they gave, while the parents' previous experience and knowledge impacted on how the advice came into practice.

Individual Education Plans and the means of creating a sustainable platform for children with learning difficulties is a subject of vast discussion. The original idea was to create a system in which the documentation of certain students with learning difficulties would lead to precautions being taken in order to eradicate difficulties and improve student?s abilities to excel in studies. However, in practice, the IEPs proved less functioning and the special needs of students were not attained accordingly to the theoretical approach. In some aspects the IEPs were a helpful tool to create sustainability for students with special needs, but in the long term the IEPs seemed to provide less support and more segregation.

The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the principal problem of the study of national self-images and by questioning the congruent existence of one in the case of Sweden. Through the use of qualitative method and semi-structured interviews the ambition of the study is to compare and to understand the national self-images portrayed in a major Swedish town, Stockholm and to that of a smaller town on the countryside, Sjöbo. A social constructionist approach in co-operation with key temporal and spasial dimensions are used to penetrate the interviews at hand. The main conclusions drawn from this study highlights the difficulties in addressing the concept of a congruent national self-image. Several major discrepancies appear in the analysed material, mainly in the past and the external dimensions, both from a regional approach, but also very much within the local entities themselves..

The aim of this essay is to examine which of the two approaches within the field of conflicts that best explains the conflict between Georgia and Russia using negotiations, dialogue and conciliation. According to the first approach negotiations are used to handle a conflict, according to the second approach negotiations are used to solve a problem.  The focus will be on how the two states acted and how the dialogue from the European Union as a conciliator was brought before the war escalated in 2008. The EU is today an important actor within the international politics and has established close relations to the two states. The conflict goes back in history and is still not solved. In the fields of international studies, there is a realistic view that claims the international politics to be shaped by suspicions between states as main actors. War is never far away, what is claimed to be solved through diplomacy.