The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether or not capitalism, viewed here as the system that is currently the dominant economic system in the Western world, can be seen as a modern myth or not. An author, Brian Tracy, of several popular self-help books is the target of this investigation and the language he uses in his books have been scrutinized in order to see whether or not he uses a religiously influenced, and more importantly, myth-creating language. In order to do so, Bruce Lincolns theories of myth have been used in correlation with Stefan Arvidssons definition ov myths. Also of interest is whether or not Tracy in his books uses any of the instruments of power defined by Michel Foucault to support his claims.The investigation shows that capitalism indeed can be seen as a modern myth. This claim is supported by the facts that Tracy not only uses a language heavily influenced by Christian texts and belief but furthermore because he descirbes himself and the people he claims to have helped in a way that strongly resembles the narratives of myths.

This bachelor?s thesis is a study that examines cactus groups in Sweden from a heritage conservation perspective. Through interviews and an analysis of both historical and modern literature, the research explores why cactus groups became popular and what is required to preserve those still in existence today. A recurring challenge has been the lack of comprehensive source material, leaving some questions open for further research. The study focuses on four cities?Norrk?ping, Skellefte?, Varberg, and V?xj??that have maintained their cactus groups for nearly a century.

The purpose of this essay is to examine whether the descriptions of Stalin's terror in history textbooks for high school changed from the 1950s until the 2010s. Since previous research shows that textbook content is influenced from different directions and that it dominates in teaching, therefore I want to find out what similarities and differences that exist in the textbooks. The survey is based on a qualitative approach because I want to have a profound picture of the descriptions of Stalin's terror. The results of the survey show that the number of casualties and the descriptions on the famine has changed over time. Furthermore, textbooks also found it difficult to distinguish between terror, politics and ideology.

Nature?s Best is a quality-label for Swedish Eco-tourism. It is one of very few active ecotourism labels and the only one that claims quality as its main focus. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the certification scheme Nature?s Best with regards to the values the certification creates for the companies that certify their products.

The idea of this thesis emerged from our common interest to explore the life cycle of Swedish tourist destinations. This study has historical features since we tried to identify crucial historical and current push and pull factors, which influenced destinations upturns and downturns. In order to achieve our primary goal and identify those factors, we made two case studies. We chose Åre and Mölle as our cases and these two areas will represent Swedish destinations, and their life cycles, as a whole. The destinations? developing processes and their nowadays profile are not the same as for two hundred years ago which was a reason and motivation that made us start exploring this specific subject.

This essay is a textbook study where I aim to review four textbooks regarding some historical events in the subject History. The textbooks are used in junior high school and the historical events are as follows: the genocide that happened in Congo during the leadership of king Leopold II, the genocide on Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the Holocaust and the Vietnam War.By performing this study I wanted to answer these three questions:What differences and similarities can be found in how the events circumscribed?How much space do the various events have and has it evolved through the years 1980-2009?How can this be explained?The study has been analyzed from a post-colonial perspective and the recurring patterns that appear show how the texts are post-colonial. This means that the authors of the textbooks are writing about the same subjects, but in very different ways..

This essay is questioning if the state as an unsecured creditor in a bankruptcy proceeding, according to the principle of equal treatment, has the same rights as the other unsecured creditors. The principle of equal treatment means that creditors with unsecured claims are supposed to have mutually equal rights to dividends in a bankruptcy. In the Swedish bankruptcy law from 1987 there are recycling rules which means that some legal actions taken by the bankrupt debtor before the bankruptcy can be recycled to the bankruptcy estate. These rules do not apply on taxes. This essay analyzes whether the state should have this advantage or not.

Roughly 130 000 dwellings have been officially registered since Norway as of summer 2009 passed their bill ?Energimerkeforskriften? on energy performance certificates in buildings. The main objective is to decrease the total amount of national energy consumption by producing a methodology of calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings as well as proposing cost effective measures to lower each building?s energy consumption. As the measures should not contravene nor be incompatible with the intended quality and character of the building, the ?Energimerkeforskriften? exempts buildings that due to their historical and cultural values are protected cultural heritage legislation. The current system offers a couple of professional certification alternatives, but when two online semi-automatic methods developed specifically for non-professionals are by far the most used, and since the methods of calculation primarily have focused on modern building materials and construction, the rest of the historical building stock stands literally unprotected by incorrect performance certificates and high-risk energy efficient measures. The objective of this thesis is to identify if the current Norwegian energy certificate system poses a threat to older buildings.

Hazel (Corylus avellana L.) is a common feature of meadows and pastures where it can grow in large populations and become very old. Is it possible to use the size of hazel stools for age determination and is it possible to use the size distribution of a population to provide information about how the land has been used? Hazel populations on ground where the lake-water level had been lowered, has been studied to validate an already developed growth model of hazel clones. Different hazel populations, on wooded meadows affected by mowing or grazing or overgrown meadows, were studied to evaluate the method utilizing hazel as land use indicator. The growth model was used to compare the size distributions of hazel populations with historical periods, which has been important for changes in agriculture or demography.

The foundations of the Swedish labour market have shifted due to a number of new circumstances affecting its framework. Employment is no longer a right taken for granted but rather something one should work hard to achieve. Given the new conditions, employers are not only trying to ensure their own businesses survival but also uphold the structures of our society. Competition between enterprises forces management to forge new boundaries to maintain profitability.Concerns have arisen whether or not these so called management strategies are within the limitations of the law. As a result and as a response to the design of the labour laws creativity is peaking to overrun the statutory regulations.

This thesis examines the use of history, historical narratives and the relation to Venezuelan historical consciousness in Libro Rojo, a publication of The Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). It consists of four parts: an introduction, a declaration of principles, statutes and finally what is called the programmatical bases (bases programaticas) of the party.A starting point for this thesis is that this is an under prioritized area of research about the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. It aims to show the centrality of history in these fundamental documents of the biggest left-wing party in Latin America.The thesis finds that symbolically charged historical figures ? mainly national icons of Venezuela´s struggle for national liberation - are mobilized to back up contemporary aspirations and influence public perception of what kind of future is possible and desirable. Libro Rojo structures the relationship between past, present and future in order to influence historical consciousness.It also finds that Libro Rojo constructs a vision of socialism which aims to show that the ideas and actions of Venezuela´s symbolically charged historical figures are compatible with the ideas of 19th and 20th century western Marxism.

The foundations of the Swedish labour market have shifted due to a number of new circumstances affecting its framework. Employment is no longer a right taken for granted but rather something one should work hard to achieve. Given the new conditions, employers are not only trying to ensure their own businesses survival but also uphold the structures of our society. Competition between enterprises forces management to forge new boundaries to maintain profitability.Concerns have arisen whether or not these so called management strategies are within the limitations of the law. As a result and as a response to the design of the labour laws creativity is peaking to overrun the statutory regulations.

This thesis examines the sheep shed called Ronningsgift, and its historical functions and geographical location. The study aims to make a comprehensive gathering of the existing knowledge and to shed light on new theories about the history of Ronningsgift. This is done through desk research including literature and archive search, as well as an investigation and description of the construction and materials, and an interview. Further, I got the opportunity to take part of the results of two C14 samples from Ronningsgift. The literature and archive search shows that the most common theory of the historical function is as a guest house (g?ststuga/h?gstuga) or more traditionally called, Malst?ue/Malsteuvu.

This thesis investigates the overall risks of flooding over the Design Basis Flooding Level (DBFL) at the Swedish nuclear power plants (Oskarshamn, Ringhals and Forsmark), using statistical data and methods, but also considers historical events which might affect the overall risk of flooding at the specified sites.Considering the nuclear accident which happened in Fukushima in conjuction with the earthquake and tsunami which struck eastern Japan on 11 March 2011, operators and licensors of nuclear power plants all over the world conducted reviews and investigations on the overall risks posed to the plants from external events. One important such event is extreme water level.One part of the thesis includes an extreme value analysis (using Generalized Extreme Value distribution and Generalized Pareto distribution) of water level data from SMHI (Sweden's Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) measured at stations close to the Swedish nuclear power plants. The results of the statistical studies indicate that considering the return period used in the thesis (100 000 years), the water levels at the Swedish nuclear power plants are not expected to exceed DBFL.The other part of the thesis consists of a historical study of extreme weather-related events. The results of this study indicate that no historical events seem to have occured which would indicate a higher risk of flooding than the one suggested by the statistical study. .

This essay will examine the historical picture of the island Rapa Nui as it is portrayed in popular science and in ecohistorical literature of the university of Gothenburg. This historical picture states that the inhabitants of the island cut down a lot of trees in the process of transporting the big and heavy statues, moai, from the quarry to the platforms along the coastline of the island. During this process all trees disappeared and resulted in soil erosion. The cultivation was destroyed and brought hunger to Rapa Nui. The following rivalry for food led to a situation of war followed by a cultural collapse.