National and international studies, such as PISA and TIMSS, which are part of the national evaluation system, are carried out continuosly. Skolverket, in collaboration with researchers, are responsible for the implementation, evaluation, and analysis of the studies. National results show an increasing percentage of pupils who do not reach the goals in mathematics. The last completed international studies PISA 2009 and TIMSS 2007 show an impaired trend of knowledge, in international comparison. Moreover, studies also show that the differences between schools and also within the same school in Sweden have increased.

In this essay I have described ecocriticism as a theory with several different subfields that are inspired by a cross-disciplinary approach, such as green culture studies, ecofeminism, and postcolonial ecocriticism. After a short summary of the background of ecocritical studies I analyze the various subfields, take a closer look at their contents and present various examples of ecocritical thinking. A presentation of the commonly used concepts within the discipline and some reflections on these is followed by my final discussion, where I state that even though ecocriticism is a relatively new theory and the concept doesn?t have a clear definition as yet, it is in my view a useful tool for analysis and can with time make valuable contributions to literary studies, not least by introducing a number of new perspectives..

AbstractOur purpose was to understand how social workers experience the possible complexities that working with economical aid can entail. As an example we chose to focus on long-term economical aid work. We aimed to address the question of which factors could affect their work. In a prior study, done by Dellgran & Höjer (2003) the conclusion was drawn  that  the combination of economical aid, healthcare and schools makeup a third of  practical social work in the terms of the proportion of the amount of social workers, but only 8 percent of the research is done in those areas. Other studies (Stranz, 2007) demonstrate that the research that is done on working with economical aid is deficient.

With a growing human population as well as a changing lifestyle, the conflict of wildlife and humans is intensifying. In Kenya, Maasais and their livestock have for a long time coexisted with wildlife, but an adjustment to privately own land and cultivation might rapidly change the terms for this coexistence. To understand how the Maasais and their livestock affect the wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and the surrounding area, this study was undertaken. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how hippos are concerned..

Abstract.The question in this analysis is which gender moai, the big statues on Rapa Nui, represent. My hypothesis is that they have developed from visual symbols to metaphores in mythologies from an polynesian context. That these statues were symbols for human origin and creation of ancestors ideological power, and gods in consideration male gender. In the long isolation, in both time and space, the mytologies in Rapa Nui was changed, and the pictures got a new meaning. These changes depended on clearing of wood and big trees and the following difficult situation in farming.

This paper studies three Swedish textbooks for the A-course in religious studies, in the Swedish equivalency of high school, to see if the image of Islam and Muslims presented is diverse or homogeneous and exotic. The purpose of the study is to see whether or not the religious studies can contribute to the forming of islamophobic beliefs in pupils. Studies have shown that islamophobia is widespread in Sweden, therefore it could be interesting to see if the schools play any part in the forming or spreading of islamophobic views. The conclusion reached is that this cannot be excluded as a possibility. There are still some textbooks that present Muslims in a homogeneous and exotic manner to some degree.

Is Försäkringskassan, one of Sweden?s largest organizations, an equal place to work in? Dosex, ethnical background or age matter when being treated by colleagues and managers?In this thesis I try to, through interviews with both the Human Resources-departement andsome administrators at Försäkringskassan, find the answers to how the organization?s internalwork regarding equality functions. To help me with the analysis I use both discourse theoryand gender theory. I find a discrepancy between the Human Resources-department?s and theadministrators? view of how the internal equality work is run.

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.

This paper?s main goal is to study how religious studies teachers and religious studies teacherstudents reason concerning armed religious conflicts, with fundamentalism and terrorism ascentral concepts. The study does this with the use of semi-structured interviews. The resultsare analyzed with a phenomenographic analysis with the interviewees? understanding of thecentral concepts being the target of the interviews.

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.

Syftet med studien var att studera hur sällskapsdjur kan påverka demenssjukas beteendeproblem och vara ett komplement till medicinsk behandling med lugnande läkemedel hos patienter med demens.Studien genomfördes som en systematisklitteraturstudie. Metoden författarna använde sig av var att de valde ut 9 stycken vetenskapliga artiklar från år 1999-2009 som hittats i olika databaser och referenslistor. Artiklarna analyserades genom att texten delades upp i de olika kategorierna lugnade effekt/oro, aggression, kontakt/beröring och läkemedelsanvändande. Resultatet visade att beteendeproblemen som aggression och oro, i flera av studierna blev bättre i sällskapsdjurs närvaro, men bara under den tiden som deltagarna fick animal assisted therapy (AAT). När deltagarna blev utan AAT försämrades deras beteendeproblem igen.

This thesis discusses the existential consequences for the human being in creatio ex nihilo, where the main subjects of discussion are contingency, freedom and identity. The starting-point of the discussion lies in the presentation of the history of the doctrine of creation, especially the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Once the historical and philosophical importance of the doctrine of creation is clear, the anthropological and theological consequences are obvious; creation is contingent and at the same time deeply dependent upon God. The contingency of creation may bring a sense of non-necessity among people, and therefore it makes the question of human freedom and identity in the doctrine of creation utterly important..

This paper relates a debate on a book Vetenskapen och förnuftet (1986) written by the Scandinavian philosopher Georg Henrik von Wright (1916 - 2003). The book brings up fate of mankind, raising the question if human rational thinking and scientific achievements are threatening our very existence on earth. Shortly after the book was published, it was intensively debated in a leading Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. Some 20 leading politicians and scientists contributed with their criticism during spring 1987. The paper highlights this debate by writing reception history, describing how the book with its serious message was received by leading scientists of the time.

The field of work and employment is constantly undergoing changes. In order to help organizations to adjust to new conditions, different models for organizing have been developed. Many of these models are spread worldwide, due to the need for organizations to meet demands of flexibility and efficiency. In this study, a small number of models, which contains solutions of how to organize work in Human Resources, have been selected. The author and scientist Dave Ulrich, who has had a large influence on the development of the work in Human Resources, originally founded these models.The aim of this study was to examine how these models were functioning, in reference to the different departments of Human Resources labor within the township of Uppsala.

The aim of this study is to find out in which way the education about climate in school is taught and how the students experience the world situation today. There are various theories about the greenhouse effect and its origin and these theories should be addressed to ensure that students get a broader understanding of how climate change occurs. This includes the natural phenomena and also the human impact on climate change. Students in school are a source of concern that only human are the cause of global warming, and know little or almost nothing about the natural phenomena of global warming.  I will mention what has emphasized in the national steering documents in the case of environmental education at school.I have used a qualitative method, where interviews and document analysis were used as techniques. The interviews took place with five students in ninth grade and with three science teachers in the same school..