The aim of this two-year masters thesis is to look for the Swedish public library´s core business, using theories about competence. The approach is qualitative. It is done by studying the Unesco Public Library Manifesto, the Swedish library legislation, the education in library and information science, two important Swedish library related journals and by asking public librarians about their work and point of view regarding competence.The research shows mainly two sides of the core competence of public librarians: information technology competence and literature knowledge. The conclusion is that the two meet in the idea of mass education, which could therefore be called the Swedish public library´s core business..

The aim of this study is to examine if Kenneth, a character in the novel Nyår by Stig Larsson, takes his ethical responsibility for one of the characters that appears in one section of the book, Ann. Nyår has often been related to morality. This study shows that Levinas philosophy of ethics is a supplement to the discussion of morality. According to Levinas, a person that acts in a non-moral way still can act in a righteous ethical way. With this starting point, it is possible to be close to the text and to bring out new perspectives on the novel.

Protracted social conflicts, as those in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, are based on deep rooted perceptions of identity and definitions of "the other". According to the theory of discursive conflict transformation, war is primarily a social phenomenon, which is legitimated by a discourse of identity defined in terms of exclusionist boundaries and structural ideas of the social relations in society. In order to develop positive peace, the discourse of violence has to be challenged and the discursive structures that enable war have to transform into a counterdiscourse of inclusion and individuality. For the purpose of making a critical peace analysis, I have, with the assistance of established conflict theories, analysed the basic ideas behind the the Annan Plan and the Belfast Agreement and thus been able to interpret to what extent they may foster positive peace. I argue, that in order to provide basic needs on a group basis, power sharing arrangement, based on ethnicity or religion, exacerbates division rather than ameliorating it.

 The aim of this thesis is to examine men's attitudes towards literature, and how social norms affect their book reading, in order to contribute to the knowledge of why men's book reading is decreasing. This is realized through a discourse analysis of literature recommendations in men's lifestyle magazines.Two magazines, King of Sweden and Magazine Café, are examined through critical discourse analysis. Theories of discourse are combined with theories of gender to explore how gender stereotypes affect men's reading habits.The analysis shows that ideals of masculinity have a great influence on the book recommendations. Social norms, associated with gender, also seem to have significance to whether or not a book is considered suitable for men to read. These are, inter alia, norms of heterosexuality and violence.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 have done more to focus attention on the conjunction of religion and conflict than any other event in recent history. Although much international research has focused since then on the role of Islam, religiously inspired violence is also found in countries as diverse as Thailand, Burma, or Sri Lanka, where Buddhism plays a central role. This paper addresses how these realities are reflected in two Swedish high school textbooks on religion. The thesis calls into question the manner in which Buddhism is presented in schoolbooks as the most probable candidate to be a conflict-free religion.Using Fairclough?s discourse analysis theoretical framework and Hellspong?s structural analysis, the thesis critically examines the relationship between text, the discourse practice in which text is produced and the wider social practices.

As the environmental requirements on businesses increase from various stakeholders, the incentives for businesses to work more with environmental issues also increase. Historically, the requirements were focusing on companies with direct emissions from operations. Lately, the environmental impacts that occur indirectly as results of corporate activities have become more topical. Companies and organizations that mainly offer services often have a greater indirect than direct environmental impact. This is because they are affecting third parties, which in turn have a direct environmental impact.

This thesis is a case study that examines what political decisions have been taken and how these policies have been implemented. Further this thesis discusses how legitimacy of local policy makers and implementors is affected. The subject studied have been the social service of Jönköping municipality and the intervention of safe-housing aimed at women who have been, or are subject to violence by person close to them. In our study we have examined local policy within the territory of the intervention and how this policy is implemented. A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was used in combination with quantitative methods to examine protocols from the social welfare board and an action program named "Skydd och stöd för misshandlade kvinnor och deras barn? [Protection and support for abused women and their children].The purpose of this study has been to highlight how the social services implemented the local policy of safe-house accommodation in Jönköping municipality from the legitimacy and discretion perspectives.

Barley is one of the most important cereals cultivated in the Nordic countries. Climate change brings warmer and moisture climate which favors fungal diseases. In the cropland barley can be seriously infested with hard fungus attack. Since it is important that the yield bears a high quality it is of great importance to find varieties more resistant to attacks.Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are stress proteins induced in the plant in response to infection and abiotic stress (van Loon, 1997). PRs are shown to have antimicrobial activity differing between bacteria, fungi and oomycetes (Tandrup Poulsen, 2001).

To complete an overweight treatment program is associated with better weight loss. Previous studies have in principle focused on drop-out from the entire program, not individual parts of a program. Factors previously shown to influence the patients´ weight loss results are: frequency of individual meetings with a professional, the lack of social support from family or friends, the lack of motivation and in a few studies vacations. In several studies the drop-out patients have stated that their reasons for drop-out were dissatisfaction with the staff and the program design. Drop-out has also been shown to be connected with difficulties in adherence to the diet.

To complete an overweight treatment program is associated with better weight loss. Previous studies have in principle focused on drop-out from the entire program, not individual parts of a program. Factors previously shown to influence the patients´ weight loss results are: frequency of individual meetings with a professional, the lack of social support from family or friends, the lack of motivation and in a few studies vacations. In several studies the drop-out patients have stated that their reasons for drop-out were dissatisfaction with the staff and the program design. Drop-out has also been shown to be connected with difficulties in adherence to the diet.

Bakgrund: Statliga och kommunala myndigheter, liksom privata företag och ickevinstdrivande organisationer verkar idag för att bekämpa samhällsproblem och negativa beteenden såsom drogberoende, rökning och dåliga matvanor. För att påverka samhället i en positiv inriktning kommuniceras hälsofrämjande och sociala budskap på olika sätt, dock med varierande framgång. Detta beror på organisationernas natur och verksamhetssyfte, men framför allt på de varierande resurser de olika aktörerna har att tillgå. Kännetecknande för icke-vinstdrivande organisationer är det ideella syftet och bidragsberoende från såväl privatpersoner, företag som statliga bidrag. På senare år har konkurrensen om givarnas pengar ökat, vilket har fått till följd att de icke-vinstdrivande organisationerna har utvecklat och fördjupat sitt engagemang i företagssamarbete.

We have studied the process of recruiting young people to the white power movement. With the help of theoretical concepts as Outsiders and Stigma, we have elaborated the purpose of the study. The focus of the study lays in finding out which elements contributes to adolescence seeking membership in white power, and furthermore what white power organizations offers young people, to attract them to recruitment. We also want to find out if it possibly lays a desire for communion, behind adolescences decision to join these movements, and also how the communion manitains within the group? To expand our knowledge in the field of White Power, we have taken note of a body of literature that deals with the current topic, and previous research that treats questions about subculture, community and recruitment.

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease spread worldwide. The most common sources of infection for all animals and humans are bites from dogs or bats. The aim of this degree project was to diagnose and determine the source of infection for 11 rabies samples from São Paulo State and Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Diagnosis was made through direct immunofluorescence assay, mouse inoculation and RT-PCR. The sources of infection were determined by sequencing 234 nucleotides of the 5? end of the N-gene and align these with homologous sequences retrieved from GenBank.

Background:A trauma is a potential life threatening state which demands special resources and optimal care. Trauma doesn't just mean physical violence against the body, it can also put the patient in a psychological crisis. The trauma care in the emergency department is a short and intensive assessment between the patient and the emergency staff, where there is a risk that the patient may feel exposed and uncomfortable. For the nurse to be able to provide security and meet the patients' needs of well-being during the trauma care, the nurse has to try to understand the patients' needs and experiences. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the patient's experiences during trauma care in the emergency department.

Att arbeta med utsatta människor i en statlig verksamhet som tjänsteman kan för de flesta människor verka ofarligt ? men hur är det egentligen? Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns ett stort mörkertal när det kommer till klientrelaterat hot och våld och att incidenterna inte tas tillräckligt seriöst. Syftet med denna uppsats är att få en större förståelse för vad de ökade hoten får för konsekvenser för personalen på Migrationsverket. Vi vill belysa och synliggöra spänningsfältet i klientrelationen som leder till att hot och våld mot handläggare ökar. Det teoretiska ramverk som används i uppsatsen är gräsrotsbyråkrati, makt och klientrelationer.