Animals in zoos live in more barren Environments than their conspecifics in nature. In nature, elephants spend more than 75 % of the day foraging and have been observed lying down two hours during night. Stereotypies are common in many different species in zoos. Stereotypic behaviors may constitute up to 50 % of the daily activity budget of zoo elephants. Modern zoos try to reduce stereotypic behaviors by means of environmental enrichment.

This is a study that was conducted during a three day exercise of the Swedish Armed Forces called ?Amfibieförbandet?, which is shortened as AMF, in Gothenburg. During the exercise three scientists followed the crew on the boats and this is one of the studies that became the result of the observation made during the exercise. The boats that was used during the three days were the boat called ?Stridsbåt 90H? by the Swedish armed forces.

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) hold great potential to support learning activities, for example by providing teachers and students with new and extended spaces for interaction and collaboration. However, this potential appears to be difficult to realize, and despite their perceived learning benefits, the reality is that LMSs are being used primarily for administrative purposes. Meanwhile, external pedagogical tools are successfully put into practice to improve learning outcomes, and the aim of this study is therefore to identify and discuss benefits and disadvantages associated with the LMS as a concept. By interviewing secondary school teachers, we disentangle the idea of integrating administrative and pedagogical aids into a single platform, providing detailed insight into the use of digital tools in secondary education. The study contributes to a deepened understanding of integrated learning Environments, and we conclude that there is a conflict between structure and flexibility that needs to be addressed before determining the design of a digital learning space..

The study was conducted with an landscape approach with an subject related approach in the field of environmental psychology to investigate how road design affects drivers' choice of speed. The purpose was to portray road Environments on thoroughfares in urban areas to motivate motorists to keep the speed limit and thus increase road safety for vulnerable road users. The task question was formulated, how can thoroughfares in suburban settings be portrayed to motivate motorists to reduce speed? The study was conducted throughout a literature review of motivational speed measures along with interviews with road design experts at the Swedish Transport Administration. Case studies were conducted on three thoroughfares in the Stockholm suburbs Vallentuna, Upplands Väsby and Danderyd.

Prior research on the ability of financial ratios to predict bankruptcies has shown a significant difference between the companies that went into bankruptcy and those that survived. This paper investigates whether there is a difference in the prediction ability of financial ratios during the last financial crisis compared to relatively normal macroeconomic Environments in which most previous studies have been conducted. We use univariate analysis to compare companies that went into bankruptcy during 2010 and 2011 with companies that remained active. Our dataset consists of 51 failed companies that are matched with 102 companies that remained active. All companies were Swedish limited companies with more than 50 employees and the comparison is made with 26 financial ratios.

When one experiences a place, it is a complex composition of both social and spatial factors.One of these spatial elements, is scale, which is influenced both by the room size and itsproportions. This paper aims to explore both large and small scale concepts and thus increasethe understanding of how scale directly and indirectly affects the experiences and uses ofurban space.First, is a theoretical discussion of scale in relation to aesthetics and the differencesbetween real scale and perceived scale. Next, is an analysis of spatial perception usingexamples from two existing sites. One, which is understood to have been planned in a largescale and one which is understood to have been planned in a small scale.When preparing this paper, the focus quickly became the importance of scale as itrelates to street spaces. The perception of a street usually takes place while in motion, whichforces it to be perceived in sections.

Our lives in urban areas are becoming more and more inactive with negative effects on our mental and physical health. Natural Environments and physical activity have the power to both prevent and reduce mental fatigue. Meanwhile we engage ourselves with physical activity, the nature fascinates us with its complexity. In April 2006, some of the visitors to the recreational area of Skrylle were asked to fill in a questionnaire which included questions about their habits within physical activity and the experience of nature. The questionnaires were then divided into two groups: those filled out by persons who exercise on regular basis (i.e. three or several times/week) and those who rarely exercise.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how student nurses seek and use information and libraries. Furthermore, I want to know how they think information can be used in their future occupation. Seven student nurses were included in the study. A qualitative method with personal interviews was used. The analysis of the empirical material was made according to a socio-cultural perspective.

A high degree of urbanization with growing cities has raised a need of transforming closed landfill sites for giving them new uses. This study aims to investigate how old landfills can be re-used, what has lead to the new uses, and for what and whom the transformed site will be an asset. The method used is a case study of four different landfills in Stockholm county, Sweden. The case study is analyzed in the light of former studies regarding re-use of degraded urban areas, so called brownfields, and in particular studies and reports of landfill re-use. The result indicates that old landfill sites is identified as an area with possible values if transformed properly, in the case study area especially as green structure and recreation areas.

This study examines the connection between social capital and urban and rural areas. The study divides the Environments into two categories; metropolises and rural areas. Metropolises are defined as any of Swedens largest cities Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö. The study also examines if there is a difference between these groups in how high social trust they have to people living in the same areas as themselves versus people who live in other areas. The studie also focuses on the urbanization that the world is going through, where people move from rural areas into the cities for work and education.

Groups that are often referred to as being dismissed in society in general is by some aspects also considered being so in political arenas. A recent compilation of existing research over structurally based objections of gaining power and positions within Swedish parliamentary politics highlight a lack of research considering whether sexual orientation could be such a discriminatory basis. Using a queer theoretical approach, and drawing on concepts such as heteronormativity and homophobia, the principal aim of this essay is to illuminate aspects of local parliamentary political areas where discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation become relevant. In order to do so six in-depth interviews with homosexual politicians have been conducted. Finding a queer potential in certain ideological parliamentary political Environments that enable homosexual politicians to be open about their sexual orientation, it still relies upon the individual to be confident enough not to interpret the political context as homophobic and heteronormative..

We want to search knowledge in how teachers with a focus on after-school recreation centre estimate how their own competence is used in after- school recreation center and school and what expectations/apprehensions they have on their profession in the future. In our study we have asked teachers with a focus on after-school recreation center how they estimate that their competence has been used in after-school recreation center during the last three years. The method we have used to illustrate this is the Delphi method Nordänger (2009), where we interviewed eight respondents by e-mail. From the responses, we have found that teachers with a focus on after-school recreation center experience that their skills should get more attention in the school. They want to combine care and pedagogy that supports students' physical, intellectual, social and emotional development.

As the volumes are entering the world of computer graphics the pure volume visualisation becomes a more important tool in for example research and medical applications. But the advance in haptics --- force feedback from the computer --- is behind. In volume haptics no equal to the proxy method so popular in surface haptics has yet emerged. Some implementations of volume haptics even use surfaces as intermediate representations so that surface haptics can be used.The intention of this work was to create natural feeling haptic feedback from volumetric density data using pure volume haptics. The haptic algorithm would be implemented in Reachin API for the Reachin Desktop Display, together with other parts to build up a usable volume visualisation environment.To achieve the feeling of stiffness and friction dependent on tissue type, a proxy based method was developed.

AbstractThis study was meant to cast a light on the use of music-instruments that exists in preschool Environments today. Furthermore the purpose was to find out if instruments first and foremost, actually did exist, and what thoughts had been put behind that decision. The focus was directed towards the preschool teachers and their attitudes towards music instruments among preschool children, at the ages 3 to 5 years. The purpose of the study was to understand how preschool teachers thought of activities where music instruments where used. The study was made from interviews with six different preschool teachers from different preschools.

When a videogame is being played it is rarely a static experience. A videogame can consist of various systems that affect each other in an unpredictable manner which makes the player experience unique for every player.Throughout the years developers of games have used random chance in a games programming to affect the user experience. Sometimes it even goes so far as to having entire games based around the idea of the game itself randomly generating content for a player to experience.This paper will examine randomly generated content in videogames. It will take examples from existing ones and describe how they use it, and reason regarding the benefits and drawbacks of having random chance affect the user experience.The paper will step-by-step examine the purpose of various commonly occurring objects and features of a typical dungeon in an adventure videogame. It will reason around their purpose, and figure out ways to use them in a structured  manner so that we can guarantee that there will be no deadlocks that the player can't overcome.This will range from the Environments in rooms, the shape of them, to the objects and creatures that inhabit them, such as locked doors, keys, and bosses.