In the social sciences, geopolitical theory is used in order to analyze states actions and commitments when it comes to foreign policy. This thesis develops a new understanding of geopolitical theory. Firstly, the development and application of geopolitical theory, from its foundations in the early twentieth century to contemporary geopolitical studies is discussed. Secondly a revised understanding of the variables integrated in the concept and how it can be operationalized as an analytical tool is presented and tested empirically.The critical assessment of the research field of geopolitical theory tells us that six different geopolitical perspectives have been considered the most influential (room, strategy, power projection, identity, affiliation and governance) when it comes to analyzing state action. This model is applied as an analytical tool and thus tested on a single case.

The aim of this paper was to investigate how 40 typical speakerswith Finnish accent, aged 65-84 years, performed in speech assessmentthrough Dysartribedömningen, a Swedish dysarthria assessment instrument.Their results were compared with results of a matched Swedish nativespeaking reference group. Both groups were assessed in areas offunction/structure, prosody/intelligibility and through a survey oncommunication. Results indicated that the performances of the Finnishparticipant group were estimated as more deviant than the Swedish,considering all areas. The Finnish participants were deviant in articulationand they had a significantly lower speech rate in reading. They also hadsignificantly lower scores in intelligibility compared to the reference group.The results of the survey of communication showed that the Finnishparticipants estimated their levels of activity and participation to besignificantly more limited compared to the reference group.

Speech disorders are common in children with 22q11-deletion syndrome, but there is limited knowledge about speech in adults with this syndrome. The aim of this study is to describe speech and voice in adultswith 22q11-deletion syndrome, and compare the results with a control group.Ten adults between 19-49 years participated in each group. The study wasbased on the Swedish dysarthria assessment, Dysartribedömningen. Thetested abilities were respiration, phonation, oral motor function, velopharyngeal function, articulation, prosody and intelligibility. Communicative participation was examined as well.

Background: A company?s choice of capital structure is influenced by the access to internal and external capital but also by the opportunities and threats that the management perceives in the environment and the management?s attitude towards risk. How an individual perceives and interpret the environment depends on the cognitive structures, which are shaped by personality, background and earlier experiences. Accordingly cognitive structures can be expected to influence the choice of capital structure. Purpose: Out of a cognitive perspective we intend to study the relationship between the way a company views it?s environment and what capital structure it chooses to have, in order to contribute to an increased understanding about what lies behind a company?s capital structure policy.

This thesis studies if public libraries in Sweden have taken part ofinformation regarding the Swedish government policy that publicareas are to be made accessible by 2010. Also studied is thesignificance of information and resources on the execution ofaccessibility adaptations at public libraries.The analysis uses Lennart Lundquist?s theory of implementation ofpublic policies, that the person executing the policy needs tounderstand, be able to and want to in order for the policy to besuccessfully executed. The study was carried out through a surveyand the thesis focuses on the factors of understanding and beingable to.The survey was sent by email to all 290 municipal libraries inSweden with an answering frequency of 65%. The results arepresented in table format with explanations.The thesis finds that a clear majority of respondents have hadaccess to information about accessibility adaptations, but thatmuch fewer consider the information clear enough.

Huvudsyftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka rättsläget avseende tillståndsgivning till vindkraftverks etablering på land. I uppsatsen behandlas miljöbalkens första fyra kapitel. I studien granskas det först tre tillståndsärenden från tre olika länsstyrelser och sedan genomförs en kortare rättsfallstudie över prejudicerande domar avseende lokaliseringen. En mycket tung vägledning för lokaliseringsbedömningen utgör, både för länsstyrelserna och för domstolen, översiktsplanering eller andra eventuella planeringar och policy. Länsstyrelserna behandlar planeringar eller policy med en annan utgångspunkt än domstolen gör.

Denna uppsats dokumenterar en fallstudie som gjordes hösten 2006 vid Linde Material Handling i Örebro. Företaget var på väg att expandera och planerade att utöka användningen av IT i verksamheten. I samband med detta gavs undertecknade i uppdrag att utforma en informationssäkerhetspolicy för verksamheten. I en litteraturstudie kunde det konstateras att det inte fanns några enklare riktlinjer för att utforma sådana policies, varmed syftet blev att göra detta. Genom en fallstudie på företaget där vi utformade en IS-policy för deras verksamhet, och även gjorde intervjuer med ledning och dokumentationsanalyser, utrönas vilka problem som kan uppstå och vilka överväganden som bör göras för att utforma en lyckad policy.

The Swedish group contribution rules do not include a right to deduction for cross-border group contributions unless the receiving company is taxable in Sweden. There has been much discussion regarding whether the rules are compatible with EC law. On 11 March 2009 the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court ruled ten cases concerning the right to deduction for cross-border group contributions. In three of these judgments deduction for a group contribution from a Swedish parent company to a foreign subsidiary within the EEA was allowed, despite that the subsidiary was not taxable in Sweden. The main purpose of this master thesis is to analyse whether the interpretation of the Supreme Administrative Court concerning the right to deduction for cross-border group contributions is compatible with EC law.

EU is an organization that has expanded really fast during the last years. When you read about different EU membership processes you notice that some processes have been much faster than others. Spontaneously you think that this depends om that some countries have not been fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. However, during the last decennium some scientists have written articles about motives that have affected the membership processes. The basic problem in my essay is how we are supposed to understand a membership process? Since I was interested in if I could see the same inconsistent behavior pattern in other membership processes I chose to study Turkey and Croatia.

This study focuses on aspects of cult experiences, given by deconverted formermembers of closed religious movements. Their testimonies were published inbooks or interviews. The aims of the study were to understand the interactionbetween the religious group and its members, living in high tension towardsmainstream society and their testimonies of altered self-esteem during attraction,membership, deconversion and defection. The purpose was to understand how aperson´s self-esteem is affected by inner mechanisms of closed religiousmovements and how these experiences affects a persons identity. Another aspectwas whether there might be differences in altered self-esteem, between those whoenlisted as adults, and those who were born into the closed religious contexts.Social Identity Theory, Sigmund Freud´s and Carl Rogers models of personal egowere used as models of interpretations.

The purpose of this essay is to study the process of developing electronic subject guides for the Internet. Our focus is the content, structure and layout of the subject guide. The study has resulted in a number of guidelines that may be of help in the development of future subject guides. To achieve this purpose we have studied the existing subject guide at one of the faculties of the University of Lund, Sweden. We performed a series of interviews with the originators, and made a questionnaire for the users.

The first of the dual purposes of this work has been to describe the research that has been done regarding the root causes of terrorism and second, using a general causal theory and examining the political dimensions of it, to discuss whether or not general causal theories (grand-theories) are helpful for researchers and policy-makers when reacting to social developments in the form of terrorism. The essay is a qualitative literature analysis and I have based my studies on mostly new books treating root causes of terrorism. I have concentrated on discussing international terrorism and how political dimensions may impact the occurence of this form of political violence. The conclusions I have made is that there is no widespread consensus among researchers and scholars as to what really causes terrorism. Neither can the general model examined in chapter 5 be used to predict when and where terrorism will occur next.

The aim of this report is to give a picture of how attitudes and behaviours of owners of environment cars look like and how they can be influenced. The alignment lies on environmental cars which run on biogas and ethanol which both are renewable fuels. The starting point is to sort out if it is environmental thinking that controls the choice and use of an environmental car. The feeling is that there are many other factors that can be more controlling, for example the price and the quality of the car. The result of the questionnaire survey which is the foundation of the report shows however that those who buy an environmental car do it mostly because of environmental reasons.

Public health focuses on interventions related to physical activity during leisure and at work under conditions where health care is offered during working hours. Increased physical activity offers many positive effects on health in general and reduces the risk for most injuries and illnesses. Female cleaners represent a profession that is largely composed of women at high risk of overload injury and rarely participate in wellness initiatives offered at workplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 20 minutes of daily physical exercise for 10 weeks of intervention for healthy female cleaners. A total of 40 female cleaners in a larger organization participated in the study and were divided in into an intervention group and a control group.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between locus of control and behavior in a work group. The investigation was performed using two methods, self-report and observation, which were used in order to provide a description of how the individuals experienced their own behavior in a group context as well as of how they actually could be observed to behave. The 31 participants were divided into five groups. During the procedure each group received a task, which was to be discussed and solved by the group members together. Observations were carried out using IPA.