The aim of our study is to explore the empowerment process among micro-business owners in Kayamandi, a black township of Stellenbosch in South Africa. What are the positive and negative implications for the empowerment process? Another aim is to find out the role of local and international support in this process. The theoretical framework of this study revolves around the concepts of gender, power and empowerment. Our methods are qualitative interviews and observations.

This masters thesis shows that the changes in the scientific publishing system have affected the academic libraries. Both technological change and the increased prices on scientific journals have forced academic libraries to take action. Some Swedish academic libraries have started publishing the university s own research material. The issue has in many cases been treated more as a library concern, than as a concern for the university as a whole. Neither has there been a national coordination of these matters in Sweden.

This study looks at how probation, client experiences, and criminal policy decisions affect recidivism in Sweden. Gaining a thorough grasp of how social, organizational, and political issues interact and impact the chances of rehabilitation and reintegration is the goal. Three research questions are addressed in the study: First, what are the causes of recidivism? Second, how is probation perceived by staff and clients in terms of control and support? Thirdly, what effects do political decisions have on probation services' operations and clients' chances for recovery?? A qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews with twelve respondents, eight probation clients, three probation officers and one parliamentary politician. There were six themes that discussed the issue of recidivism from different perspectives, the collected data was analyzed through thematic content analysis.

Målet med en hedgefond är att i alla marknadslägen generera positiv avkastning vilket även brukar kallas absolut positiv avkastning. Det finns en rad olika investeringsmetoder även kallade hedgestrategier som förvaltarna använder sig av för att uppnå detta mål. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka de olika investeringsstrategierna på den nordiska marknaden med fokus på överavkastning och riskjusterad avkastning. För att få perspektiv på hedgestrategiernas utveckling kommer de även jämföras med ett lämpligt marknadsindex. Den undersökta perioden begränsas till 2004-01 till 2007-01 vilket ge tillräckligt mycket data för att kunna använda likaviktade avkastningsindex för varje enskild hedgestrategi Undersökningen visar att inga av hedgestrategierna lyckades att generera en bättre snittavkastning än marknadsindex under den sammanlagda perioden.

Background: Cancer is the most common cause of death among children in Sweden. The disease and the treatment cause suffering among the children, which also affects their parents. Research has shown that parents of children with cancer have poorer health. It is the nurse?s responsebility to help, not only the child, but also the parents in their difficult situation.

Japan's foreign and security policy has seen some substantial changes as a result of events like the first Gulf war and 9/11th. This has been taken as proof, by some, that Japan is abandoning its antimilitaristic stance and pursuing a more traditional hard power role through military means. This essay aims to explore if these shifts have coincided with any substantial shifts away from antimilitarism, which has had a strong influence on the country's security policy since the end of WW2.To do this I use constructivist theory, specifically regarding the impact of norms and identities on states security policy and briefly look into the problem of actor designation. The thematic focus is on security policy, from a narrow perspective, and thus I examine areas like the input and output to the Japanese military and the actual applications of this force. State identity is used to explore the prevalence of nationalistic sentiments and support for anti militarism in the public opinion and the political elite.The result of this study points to the further relevance of constructivist theory and especially the application of norms and identity.

In response to the increasing mental health challenges among children and adolescents in Sweden, primary care services like First-line Mental Health (UPH), have been established to provide easy access to support. Within this medical context, professional practitioners, such as healthcare social workers, psychologists and nurses play a vital role, often balancing support and focus for the child with work involving the whole family. However, navigating the therapeutic alliance while addressing the need for parental change remains a complex challenge. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of practitioners experiences in establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance with parents within a first-line mental health context. Furthermore, the study explores how these professionals balance the tension between validating parents and addressing the need for change in parental functioning.The study used a qualitative approach, based on semi-structured interviews with five mental-health professionals working within UPH in Western Sweden.

Violence and aggression is a common problem for staff in different care units. Caregivers often feel frustrated and unsatisfied in their work with these patients. Even caregivers with long experience finds it valuable to get education in management of violent patients. The aim of this literature study was to illuminate staffs experience in meeting with aggresive and violent patients. The method that was used was a literature research, where earlier research findings were read, analysed and put together.

Background; Gynecological cancer is a common term for cancer in the female genitals and 2013 there were about 2800 women in Sweden that was diagnosed. This form of cancer and the treatment that is used, affects the sexuality and also the fertility of the women.Aim; The purpose with the essay was to illustrate the experience of the sexuality after the treatment of gynecological cancer.Method; The method used in the essay was a systematic translation of different literature. Of all the articles used there were eight that was qualitative, two quantitative and one was a combination of both methods. The analytic process was accomplish with the support of the Friberg (2006) analytic method.Results; The analysis resulted in two categories; Physical changes after the treatment and the treatments impact on the sexuality of the women. The physical changes that occurred because of the treatment was recurring and it showed that it was primarily surgery that hurt the woman body.

The structural rationalization of rural firms in Sweden has led to many new creative ways of developing companies. The agriculture sector is characterized by the need of capital in form of buildings, labor and inventory. The rationalization process has led to free capacity in rural firms when new technology make buildings and inventory not longer necessary for the production process. To get a better cost coverage this free capacity can be used to start-up new business areas that help the rural firm to growth.The study aims to identify factors that motives entrepreneurs in rural firms to develop new business areas. The purpose is also to analyze driving forces that lies behind development of rural firms and the forces that support or not support development in rural firms.The study is built upon five cases that all can be categorized as firms with different size and orientation.

The ambition with this study is to look into and create an understanding for how an intranet can work as a support system in work processes in capacity as a source of knowledge. We want to enhance the understanding for which kind of knowledge that can be coded in and transmitted by an intranet, and which that is lost in this process. We also want to clarify what it takes to get this knowledge, in collaboration with the intranet, to support the work in an organization. It is a qualitative case study at a Swedish bank. It consisted of semi standardized, half structured interviews with five people in one of the bank?s local offices.

Background: Breastfeeding frequency decrease in Sweden and infants born preterm is a particularly vulnerable group to not be breastfed according to current recommendations. Mothers of preterm infants have an extra need of support from the health care system. Mothers' self-efficacy in breastfeeding affects the outcome of breastfeeding. Health professionals' attitudes to breastfeeding have an impact on the breast feeding support they provide to the mothers.Aim: To investigate whether an intervention could strengthen self-efficacy in breastfeeding among mothers of premature babies. A further aim was to investigate whether the intervention influenced health professionals' attitudes to breastfeeding.Method/Design: An experimental study with quantitative approach in the form of questionnaire survey was conducted.

Background: When firms grow through acquisitions it is commonly debated whether the two entities ought to be better off as standalone companies rather than as a merged company. This thesis aims at discussing this issue of M&As advantages and disadvantages in terms of source of synergies from the perspective of resource allocation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze to what extent pre-M&A differences (against similarities) in resource allocation and corporate culture between the acquiring and target firm have an impact on the post-M&A performance. Theoretical framework: Efficient market hypothesis, resource based view, strategic fit. Methodology: A longitudinal study is conducted on the EU market during 1992 to 2002 based on balance sheet and income statement data.

The overarching aim of this essay is to analyze, from a feminist point of view, the moral responsibility for the structural oppression of women. In this discussion I focus on the issue of moral responsibility for sexual violence against women, such as rapes. I claim that a feminist theory of moral responsibility has to be based on a collectivist approach. I argue that men should be considered as collective moral responsible for the structural oppression of women. However, it is important that we analyze the interaction between actor and structure.

Aim: To describe nurses' experiences providing end of life care to patients. Method Descriptive literature study, 15 articles were included. The search was made in PubMed, CINAHL and by manual search. The articles were reviewed, analyzed and summarized. Results: For newly graduated nurses? experience in end of life care proved to be something new, developing, difficult to manage and frightening, but expected in the profession.