In 2022, Russia completed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU responded with powerful restrictive measures against Russia to demonstrate its unified support for Ukraine, indicating that the perception of Russia as an external threat to the EU, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), has become increasingly evident following the invasion. Drawing on theory and previous research suggesting that external threats strengthen group identities, I argue that Russia is perceived as an external threat to EU identity in CEE after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Stephan and Stephan's integrated threat theory considers an external threat as either realistic, posing a threat to the ingroup's existence, or symbolic, posing a threat to the ingroup's worldview. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between EU identity and the perception of Russia as a group threat to the EU among individuals in CEE based on the nature of the group threat: realistic and symbolic.

Outdoor housing of horses? best fulfils the horses? need for physical activity and it is an alternative to the more cost and energy demanding indoor housing in stables. Furthermore, if outdoor housed horses have access to shelter they can generally cope well with adverse weather conditions such as high or low ambient temperature, heavy rain or strong winds. In this study, the daytime shelter-seeking behaviour of three groups of horses housed outdoors was studied during the summer. The aim was to evaluate whether shelter use is related to weather variables (e.g., ambient temperature and wind speed) and insect harassment. The shelter-seeking behaviour was studied for three different groups of horses: Group 1) eight individually housed horses in paddocks that had access to three different shelter types (C: closed on three sides with roof, R: open on three sides with roof, W: closed on three sides without roof), Group 2) 25 group housed mares with foals on pasture with access to shelters C, and Group 3) ten mares without foals on pasture without access to shelter. Each group was studied for eight days.

Our aim of this study was to investigate barriers and opportunities for people with mental disorders getting in to the labor market. This from experiences by people whose daily job contains work rehabilitation for this group in particular. On the basis of five qualitative interviews the results showed that prejudices towards people with mental disorders are a barrier for them to get a wage labor. Furthermore the results showed that low self-esteem within the target group and also high educational demands becomes a barrier to a wage labor. The results also showed that to focus on the healthy aspects may serve as an opportunity for people with mental disorders to get in to the labor market and be able to have a paid job.

Hearing is considered to be the most important sense for the communication between people. Several studies have shown that hearing loss can lead to deterioration in quality of life, reduced social activities, feelings of alienation and hence the increasing incidence of depression symptoms.An early audiological rehabilitation is a prerequisite for proper communication among people with hearing loss. Knowledge has been shown to be of great importance and structured learning and individually targeted approach can be expected to facilitate the audiological rehabilitation.The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an educational effort for people with hearing loss where the effort was made in the distance within the audiological rehabilitation and was followed-up by professional phone support, through a randomized controlled study.The study group consisted of 69 hearing aid users who were randomized by an independent person into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group (n = 33) had access to the book "When the sounds are weaker - on hearing and hearing aids". The group received weekly topic-based information related to the different chapters of the book, in five rounds.

The aim of this study was to examine musculoskeletal disorders among dental hygienists inrelation to work postures (sitting, standing, and altering) and to study differences in thegroups regarding numbers of disorders, locations and degrees. A mail questionnaire wasdistributed among 200 dental hygienists in the region of Skåne. The response rate was 79 %.The majority of the dental hygienists were working in a sitting position. Only43 dental hygienists were altering their working position and two were working in a standingposition. The results showed that 85 % of the dental hygienists have experiencedmusculoskeletal disorders in the last 12 months.

In this essay I examine if socio cultural theory is present for teachers when pupils and students are using computers in class, especially when using blogs as a tool for learning. The aim of the essay is also to examine if blogs among pupils in class can promote peer support, co-operation and reflective dialogue, and in that case in what way. The essay consists of two studies, one small interview study and one literature study.  The interview study is made with the qualitative method phenomenographic analysis, presenting four Swedish teachers who have much experience using blogs in education. The aim of the literature study where some national and international research studies of relevance are presented, is to broaden the perspective.The result of the interview study shows that a socio cultural theory is highly present among the teachers who already use blogs in education. In addition, those teachers experience that the blog in the classroom supports dialogue and co-operation among the pupils.  In contrast, the literature study shows that most teachers in Sweden who made their pupils work with computers in classroom seem to let their student work alone, without guiding them and without creating co-operation or dialogue in the classroom.

The essay deals with questions concerning the reasons, difficulties and subjects for rejoicing which various people experience when visiting "voluntarily" old, lonely people in the congregation of Trollhättan. What knowledge is developed and which values are formed? How is aging and solitude experienced? The visits are co-ordinated by two lay workers employed by the Swedish Church. The study is built on oral interviews in April and May 2003 from a questionaire using open questions. The research group consists of six women between 65-80 of age with 1-30 years´ experience.Inner reasons, contact with other people in similar situations, positive responses to visits, and meetings in the visiting service group seem to be the principal driving forces.

The theoretical background in this essay made clear that the students? knowledge about physics improve, and they express a more positive attitude towards physics as a subject, when they have access to a more laboratory-based learning style. The aim of this study is to research how the placement of the lab relative to the lecture affects the students? experiences and level of knowledge. The study involved students in year eight and was carried out during four weeks.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge about the comprehensibility of the easy-to-read civic information. In the study I present my analysis of the content of four easy-to-read texts from four government authorities. The analysis constitutes the starting point for interviews with the target group ? people with a minor mental retardation ?, but it also reveals some possible difficulties for the intended readers. In the empirical study ten persons from the target group were asked to read a text and the comprehension was tested by oral questions about facts in the text.

The aim of this paper is to investigate to what degree the groups in our inquiry work independently. It is a qualitative research, which points to a well?functioning unit, that by definition is not self-governing, but has many traits of self- government. We have reached to the conclusion, that complete self?government does not have to be the best solution, if you want both quality and efficiency.

The purpose of this study is to find out how some Swedish preschool teacher discussing how children's Swedish colloquial interaction can be enhanced in the free play. In this case where children are aged three to five.My research questions in the study are:-          What type of free play do preschool teachers talk about in relation to children's Swedish colloquial development?-          What do preschool teachers say about child's colloquial interaction?-           How do preschool teachers reason regarding in what environment children?s colloquial interaction occurs?In my study I have used an interview with elements of a visual method called The Diamond. The approach is that the participants in the interview will be enhanced to discussing about a wise certain number of images. These images are then to be ranked accordingly with a specific theme and terms.If a child has difficult to speak, you can take help of  the interest the child has, the child can tell you and the other children what he or she know about the interest.

This thesis aims to study brand change, which can be of interest since a brand during its lifetime can be expected to meet a lifecycle consisting of five phases; innovation, introduction, growth, maturity and recession. In order to avoid the recession phase and the sales decline that follows there is a need for a change of the brand.In order to study brand change, theoretical framework is compared to two real world cases that have gone through an active change.The conceptions of positioning, repositioning and revitalization are clarified. Positioning deals with how brands are located in customer?s minds as well as on the real market. Repositioning implies a change of the current position and is also often a move towards a new market segment.

Today in Sweden the concept of the greyzone students that stands between the nine-year compulsory school and special school for mentally retarded children is recognised in different studies and reports. It is not obvious for this group of students to decide which category best can comply with their needs. Should they go in nine-year compulsory school or special school for mentally retarded children? In the last years there have been alarming rapports about how the share of students in special school increases. A study shows that the greyzone students are a group that distinctly is on the increase in the special school.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

The Civil Engineering office in Skellefteå needs to develop the users' participation in the planning of parks and playgrounds. In order to get such a procedure to work one have to find a method that can work in the daily activity. My work aims to find such a method and to implement it in practice. Apart from helping the Parks departement to find an functional method I will also develop a deepened knowledge about users?participation wich can be very useful i my future profession. This work can be divided in three stages.