According to international and national literacy studies (PISA, PIRLS) Swedish boys are inferior to Swedish girls when it comes to reading. There can be numerous reasons to that statement. One is that Swedish teachers require more knowledge about communication as an important component in literacy. In spite of this shortcoming, Swedish girls manage to gain sufficient literacy. Why is that? The aim of this survey was to examine if there were any differences between girls and boys regarding communication skills when they begin in school.The main questions taken in account were:Which differences and/or similarities in communication skills are discernible between boys and girls this particular preschool?How do boys and girls communicate with each other in different room contexts on this particular preschool?           To be able to answer the questions, I adopted observations and audio recordings from children aged five.

The aim of this thesis has been to examine how the risk for the swine flu was represented in the Swedish Radio news broadcast Ekot 16.45 during different phases of the pandemic in 2009. We wanted to study how the risk was described in different discourses and periods? Were the participants in the reporting calming or warning the listeners in relations to different aspects of the swine flu? What consequences for the community were reported in the broadcasting?To find the answers to our questions, we analysed 13 features about the swine flu broadcasted in Ekot?s main news broadcast Ekot 16.45. We used critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough.We identified four types of discourses in our text, a journalistic discourse, a medical discourse, a nationalistic discourse and an authority discourse. The main discourse was the medical one.

To end up as an immigrant in an unknown country and to try to participate in the majority society means both psychological and physical difficulties where their whole life is changing. Gemensamma Krafter is a prevention changing work in a housing area in Borlänge. It works among other things as a meeting place for people from different cultures. The aim with this study was to describe and to get increased understanding for the lives of a number of immigrant women who lives in Borlänge/Sweden and which importance ?Gemensamma Krafter? has had for them.

The aim of this study was to create an understanding of how a group of community policing officers engagement are shaped. Previous research argues that there is a police culture which conveys cynicism to the individual police. The research also says that the police adopt a pessimistic view of society, they are isolated and at odds with the rest of society. Furthermore, research has also shown how a narrative can exist that explains the police way of doing things. My contribution to the field is to explore how a narrative can be located, which precedes and shapes the police engagement.

The aim of this MA thesis is to examine how users regard and receive the services offered by a specific public library. We also examine what the conception of service means to the users and how they perceive this service being offered by the library. We look upon if and to what extent the service conception depends on contact with the library staff. The methods used are qualitative interviews and analyses of documents directing the library activities. The public library we have examined in this respect is the public library of Västerås.

This master thesis is commissioned by Permobil AB. The report describes thoroughly the developing process of an adjustable backrest for wheelchairs. The target group for the backrest are people that suffer from scoliosis or other spinal diseases. Because of insufficient pressure distribution usage of traditional backrests is not an option for them.The current solution has got a frame that is made by several adjustable links that is held in place by friction. Between the links velcro tapes are attached that is adjusts the depth.

During our education to become lighting designers at Jönköping University, the artificial lighting has been in focus. Therefore we wanted to learn more about daylight. We chose to do this from a visual approach in open plan offices. Since daylight is part of the architects´ responsibility to master, we wanted to examine what architects think of when they plan daylight environments in open plan offices and how this is expressed in the buildings with focus on the visual factors.Our questions at issue are:What knowledge do architects have concerning daylight planning, and how do they use this knowledge in their practice?How well do the chosen daylight environments meet the end-users need of a good visual environment? The study consists of three case studies, carried out in the same way.

Abstract Background: Families with sick children are expressing the needs of accommodation near the hospital, in order to be close to their children and be together as a family.Aim: To investigate how parents experienced the hospitality and the environment at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Uppsala and how they feel their children have experienced the stay.Method: Descriptive qualitative interview study. Five parents who lived with their family at RMH between 2013- 2014 have been interviewed with a semi-structured approach. A qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach according to Graneheim and Lundman (2003) was conducted on a manifest level.Results: RMH made the families? situation easier. RMH met their needs of a homelike environment where they could be themselves; be together and maintain everyday routines.

This paper is a quantitative case study named Outdoor recreation of urban areas viewed through a gender perspective. The intention of this paper is, by studying gender pattern in outdoor recreation practices in Gothenburg, to describe gender patterns in outdoor recreation of Swedish urban areas. This subject is important to study because of the practices of outdoor recreation forward public health. Today many people suffer from diseases caused by stress and too little exercise, which could be prevented if they practiced outdoor recreation. Not everyone has the same possibility to practice outdoor recreation because of the inequalities between women and men.

Research reports as PISA and PIRLS show that reading comprehension among Swedish students have deteriorated in recent years and that girls have better reading comprehension than boys. The basis for this study is Maj-Gun Johansson's reading comprehension test done during the four years between the years 2005-2008 in the seventh grade in a municipality in Sweden. The main purpose of this study is to examine reading literacy in terms of the influence of content and form of texts viewed from a gender perspective. The study is divided into two parts. The first part is a survey on local reading comprehension compared with results from a similar national text.

Coping theory asks what the cognitive and behavioral patterns of individuals dealing with stress are. This essay includes, besides the perspective of the psychology of religion, theories of culture and ritual in exploring two Swedes coping with the natural disaster in Thailand year 2004. The vacation paradise was struck by an enormous flood wave, called a tsunami, causing vast destruction and the death of over 200.000 people. Among these 543 were Swedes on vacation. When a disaster of such measures happens, what kind of stress does it cause? How do you cope? Are religion and ritual important? What is the function of the culture in the copingprocess? Using hermeneutical analysis this essay interprets the material from two books by Swedes, who not only experienced the disaster, but lost two children and husband and wife in the flood wave.

SAMMANFATTNINGBröstcancer är något som kvinnor i alla åldrar kan drabbas av. År 2011 insjuknade 8382 personer i hela Sverige. Bakgrunden: Det är männen som finns där för att stötta kvinnorna men även finnas där för barnen och ge trygghet. Barnen upplever en oro över att mista deras moder. Problem: Det är av största vikt att beskriva hur det är att drabbas av bröstcancer och samtidigt vara mor till minderåriga barn då detta kan medföra en komplex livssituation.

The purpose of this examination was to find how supervisors interpreted the termsvocational identity and vocational culture, found in the diploma goals in workplace-based learning at the Child- and Recreation Programme. To reach the purpose, I formulated questions that I answered through a qualitative study. I made six interviews with pre-school teachers who had been supervisors for students at the Child- and Recreation Programme. The informants answered the same questions and the answers were recorded. The result of the study showed that the supervisors made a fairly consistent interpretation of the terms.

This essay notice film and TV-series as a resource, which can be utililized by the tourism industry. To be more concrete, the aim of this essay is to examine if and how the Television series ?Midsomer murders? can be utilized as a tourism product. To fulfill the purpose of this essay, two different methods have been used: the study off literature and a content analyses, the later in form of a picture & film analyses. The results of this study showed that ?Midsomer murders? have qualifications enough to be a successful tourism product.

Endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) are found in many everyday products and can cause adverse effects on human health. Small children are particularly sensitive to EDCs and they are also exposed to them in a greater extent than adults. Despite this, EDCs are only banned in a few toys and childcare products. There are many sources of exposure and if no steps are taken to reduce the incidence of EDCs we may face an increasing number of people diagnosed with obesity, diabetes type 2 or various types of cancer.The Swedish Government has set a number of environmental objectives, one of which is calleda non-toxic environment. The Swedish Chemicals Agency was instructed to produce and conduct a national action plan to achieve this goal.