The outset of this study is to contribute to the literature concerning China?s increasing economic interest to engage in the African context, its economies and resource abundandce. The overarching research problem is that the approaches held by the respective African state entities may facilitate increasing development gains for the recipient state of this economic interest in principle. To adress this research problem the study is undertaken by conducting a comparative case study where three cases/states, with presumably diverging economic and political status, are likely to effect their overall state approaches differently.Research questions, which are addressed by the creation of an idealtype analytic matrix, concern whether the states of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe take on a more ?permissive? or ?restrictive? approach towards China?s economic interst and whether the approaches can be looked upon on both aggratege and case/area-specific levels.The main findings are that a clear tendency of the ?permissive approach? may be noted on a aggregate level for all cases.

This thesis tackles the subject concerning arguments as a conceptual basis forunderstanding the general strategy of the European Union Commission on issuesconcerning EU-harmonized environmental taxes, politically delicate and intergovernmentaldependent. The Commission's official proposals, communications and other relevant documents are subject to inquiry, where the theoretical bases are that harmonized environmental taxes in the EU is an issue conceived as supported by academic debate, and where the institutional arrangement in relation to an European-national dimension alongside the discursive context, allows meaningfulspace for arguments. The study makes a distinction between substantial (environmental cancerns in itself) and instrumental (other benefits, mostly economic ones) rationality as a foundation in various types of arguments.The study's main findings are that the Commission's official documents over the past 20 years, have been trying to keep a strong image of reason and knowledge based arguments for an EU-wide environmental tax reform. In particular, the types of arguments tend to appeal to the Member States by stressing the instrumental rationality in a European environmental tax reform, indicating the value of good arguments as a part of the Commission's main strategies. In sum, this may have further theoretical suggestions concerning questions of environmental and elimate change policies in a European context or other more general studies relying on theoretical assumptions of logics of argument, legitimacy or studies of motives behind action strategies in politically sensitive issues such as taxation at supranationallevel..

The aim with this report is to investigate what influence the way playgrounds are used throw the case study in Vänersborg, and also to find methods for municipalities to collect information about how playgrounds are used. The methods were observations, interviews with parents and children, a questionary with questions about what playgrounds they used, how often and why they used them and what the children used to do there. There was also a demographic investigation and documentary research. The most popular playground, Skräcklan, gets visitors from all parts of the municipality. It is located in a park with a view over the lake Vänern, there is a parking place and a café and it has furthermore a large area and many play equipments. Many of the families make shorter trips and picnics to this place. In exception of this playground, the families almost always go to the playground in their neighborhood and their part of the town.

This thesis examines immigration policy and the problematic of the surveillance society, by analyzing the movies V for Vendetta and Children of Men. In the thesis we use visual analysis, and the theories of Michel Foucault and Nikolas Rose. Central questions to our thesis are how the movies interpret the present time, and how they have chosen to depict the surveillance society to problematize the current immigration policies. We have used thematic analysis to illustrate these questions..

ABSTRACT For hundreds of years there has been a tradition with tethered dairy cows in Sweden. The last decades the old fashioned way to hold cows have been questioned and the number of dairy cows in loose housing has been increasing. Last year (2004) 19 percent in total of all farms with milk production in Sweden had their cows in loose housing. Because of EU-legislation concerning all organic production no farms are allowed to build tie stalls any more and after 2010 all organic dairy cows are supposed to live in loose-housing systems. The aim of the thesis was mainly to find out the number of farms with tethered organic dairy cows and if they will continue after the year 2010. Furthermore the purpose was to study if there are any regional differences, how countries similar to Sweden interpret the EU-decision about tethered cows and differences in buildings between organic and conventional farms and the reasons to them.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka tillgängligheten och användbarheten för barn i rullstol, på olika lekplatser i Lunds kommun. Fyra olika bedömningsinstrument/manualer användes för att bedöma tillgängligheten och användbarheten (Housing Enabler, egenkonstruerad checklista, egenkonstruerad intervjuguide och egenkonstruerad observationsmanual). Resultatet visade att lekplatser i Lunds kommun är långt ifrån så handikappanpassade som en anställd vid Lunds stadsbyggnadskontor påstod att de var. Majoriteten var heller inte tillgängliga och användbara, vilket delvis berodde på miljöns utformning, men också på ett barns funktionshinder.

I denna uppsats skattas IS-kurvor för Sverige med förändringen av den reala monetära basen som förklarande variabel. Undersökningen fastställer ett starkt statistiskt samband mellan penningtermerna och BNP-gapet. Detta resultat förklaras av att samma avkastningar som avgör den aggregerade efterfrågan även är de alternativkostnadsvariabler som figurerar i penningefterfrågefunktionen..

Mitt examensarbete går ut på att ge förslag till stadsomvandling av ett industriområde i centrala Malmö, även kallat Varvsstaden. Förslaget skall framförallt fungera som underlag och inspirationskälla till exploatering av området under förutsättning att industriföretagen flyttat ut. En inventering av området har gjorts, där de befintliga och planerade förutsättningarna studerats. Tyngdpunkterna i förslaget bygger på strukturen och kopplingarna mot omgivningen, men målet är också att skapa en funktionsblandad, integrerad och attraktiv stadsdel med ett varierat utbud av bostäder, verksamheter och service. En viktig aspekt i projekteringen av området är bevarandet av den äldre bebyggelsen inom området och hur man förhåller sig mellan gammalt och nytt. Även den frågan har jag utrett, dock i en mindre omfattning..

The aim of this Master´s thesis in Art History and Visual Studies is to examine the existence and theexpressions of openness and interior space in the contemporary Swedish architecture of singlefamilyhouses. Research has focused on open-plan housing with open connections between kitchenand living areas, large windows, walls of glass, high ceiling heights and entresol or loft levels, usingtwo case studies and analyses of seven reference objects. Interpretation is based onphenomenological theoretical perspectives.Houses that are more or less transparent permit views from both the inside and the outside. Adiscussion of this potential dilemma is supported by sociological perspectives on identity, life-style,self-presentation, privacy and publicity..

The focus of this essay is on a political party that was founded in Sweden in 1904. Today, we known it as Moderata Samlingspartiet. Historically, this party has transitioned through multiple phases which have included a change of name and also a change of substance in the area of trade policy. The party that was cheering globalisation at the 2006 congress had its roots in protectionism and had been founded as a strict protectionist organisation. The question raised here is what has caused this dramatic change in the trade politic?In addressing this important question, I have used both organization and party strategy theories to identify the main underlying reasons.

The report aims to show how outdoor environments have been shaped with the purpose of experiencing them from the inside of buildings, through an overview perspective. Two Danish gardens are used as examples. One is the Baroque garden in the garden of Frederiksborg castle in Hillerød. The Baroque garden is thus a part of a larger garden. The second garden is the Charlotte Garden, a relatively newly constructed garden within a housing complex in Østerbro in Copenhagen. Both gardens are analyzed on the basis of visual expression and structure. In the report, it is also discussed how the contemporary society have evoked the different ways of shaping the gardens.

Platser med höga globala respektive lokala integrationsvärden har, enligt Space syntax-teorin, visats bli välbesökta. Handelshamnen i Karlskrona är en plats som innehar dessa egenskaper. Ett nytt promenadstråk längs med kajen har därför potential att bli välbesökt samtidigt som det finns potential att skapa ett attraktivt bostadsområde på platsen. Examensarbetet ger förslag på en utformning av bostäder längs med Handelshamnen samt även hur de lokala- och globala korrrelationsvärdena på platsen kan höjas för att bidra till ett välbesökt promenadstråk. Detta utan att de bostadsmiljöerna drabbas av den förväntade ökade andelen gångtrafikanten längs med kajkanten..

Sustainability work is something that is emphasized more and more. Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, is discussed and the question of how much responsibility companies should really take is frequently in the news. Companies tend to ask themselves how much responsibility they should take. CSR is a common concept of companies environmental and social work and a concept we tend to see here and there in our modern society. CSR includes companies? social responsibilities, both in terms of carbon footprint, working conditions, social responsibility and more.

Construction accounts for about 35 percent of the total Swedish energy consumption and most of the energy is used by the large housing stock from the so-called ?Million program?. In the national action plan the government has put forward in energy efficiency. It is mentioned that existing buildings account for more than 90 percent of what is expected to be the housing stock within the coming 50 years. In order to meet environmental objectives its required that the existing stock be reviewed for energy efficiency. The goverment is now initiating a national framework with a budget of SEK 300 million Swedish crowns per year for five years, starting in 2010 to achieve the goal on energy efficient buildings. Energy efficiency of buildings in both new construction and above all within the existing stock are addressed.

The aim of this essay is to see if there are any relationship between the four Megalithic graves, and the newly excavated dwelling site in Resmo socken on Öland. The Megalithic graves on Öland consist of one dolmen and three passage graves. Is the excavated site a settlement? Since there are no signs of housing constructions, I will also explore other possible purposes of the site. What surprised the excavators was the concentration of pits that contained ceramics, flints and burned bones.