Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

The purpose of the present thesis is to investigate the interaction between the branches in the different villages and its users and the importance of the branches for democracy. To illustrate these points, I have focused on Högsby municipality, a local council in Kalmar county. Högsby municipality is of particular interest in this connection, since all seven of the branches have been closed recently; only the main library remains. Moreover, three of the closed branches were, in 2005, taken over by citizen organizations local to the part of Högsby municipality where the libraries were located. The specific issues that were addressed were:- What needs were satisfied by the local libraries in Högsby council and is it possible to satisfy these needs in other ways and then, how?- Does the absence of a local library affect democracy?Interviews were performed.

The aim of this study has been to explore local cultural policy documents in some municipalities in the geographical region of Västra Götaland. Do the municipalities have these kinds of documents for their local cultural activities, and how are they designed? These are questions which the study has focused on. The study has been concentrated on the library activity in the local cultural policy documents. The research has been a comparative one.

Relationship marketing is an important part of the new view of communication strategies. The theories around this subject has a general and global perspective on how to manage relations and communication problems. But somehow the local perspective is forgotten. In this thesis we have focused on the local market and which demands it has on the work with relationship management. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how relationship marketing can contribute to create a high valued brand on a local market.

This paper presents the results from an osteological method study of the Ringsjöholm fishbone material. Ringsjöholm is located in Scania, southern Sweden and is 14C dated to 5960-5200 B.P. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse methods used on fish bone material in estimations of season. Three different approaches were used to estimate the fishing season at the Ringsjöholm settlement; 1) identified species, 2) size estimations of the pike based on Enghoffs (1994-95) regression formulae of os dentale, and 3) growth rings of the pike vertebrae.The identified species and the size estimations of the pike points to the fishing being active both during spring and summer. Growth rings analysis of the pike vertebrae didn?t give any quantitative results because of fragmentation.

With climate change, the temperature and relative humidity in Sweden are increasing. The majority of historical environments lack protection against this increase, which also increases the risk of mold infestation in these environments. One of these environments is N??s Slott, in which several rooms have recurring mold growth on objects and furniture. By examining one of the rooms in the castle that is in the risk zone or has mold growth, factors behind the mold growth can be investigated in order to create a basis for future actions against mold.

Sammanfattning:Denna studie syftar till att fånga upplevelser av hur livet kan förändras i positiv riktning efter bearbetandet av en nära anhörigs suicid, med fokus på posttraumatic growth och positiva förändringar. Studien utgör ett bidrag till forskningsområdet där trauma ses som en möjlig grogrund för gynnsam utveckling hos den drabbade individen. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med sex personer som alla mist en nära anhörig i suicid. Deltagarna uttryckte PTG inom temana självperception, interpersonella relationer och livsfilosofi. Följande positiva förändringar framkom: förändringar i personligheten, ändrade prioriteringar, möten med människor på ett djupare plan, ny syn på döden, värdesätter tid med familjen mer, djupare glädje och tacksamhet, samt nya möjligheter.

This bachelor thesis examines the relation between countries? degree of economic freedom and their economic performance. Economic freedom as a concept is defined as the degree of market economy within a nation.The variable of measure that is used is the Frasier institute Economic freedom of the world index (EFI). The paper is built upon the Solow growth model and is extended by incorporation of additional variables; among which of course economic freedom. The study is performed through regression analysis, based on the neoclassical model both on rich countries, poor countries and on all investigated countries.Two investigations are performed: i) the impact from economic freedom on countries level of GDP per capita and ii) the impact from economic freedom on the growth rate in GDP per capita.The finding is that economic freedom can be seen as a relevant determinant of differences in GDP per capita growth rates between nations.

Light pollution in urban areas - How to prevent light pollution at construction Jakob Sjöling Light pollution is a relatively new but rapidly growing form of pollution. Society's increasing demand for light coupled with the pace at which lighting technology evolves is accelerating that growth. The purpose of this study was to analyse how the construction industry plan and design outdoor lighting when erecting new buildings, specifically with regards to the issue of light pollution. It also investigated how local authorities work with these issues during urban planning. In both cases special interest was placed in ways to improve the planning and use of outdoor lighting in order to minimize light pollution.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate in which aspects the public library is affected by its local community. This is re-searched by means of an exemplified case study of a Swedish public library in which we analyze governing documents and the library website with respect to environmental scanning and mar-keting of library services.The research questions are: How are the local community?s demands on the public li-brary being described in the governing document? How is the public library?s response to the demands of the local community being described in the operational plan? How are the demands of the local community, as shown in the governing document and the operational plan, re-flected in the marketing of library services on the library website?Our conclusions are that:The demands of the local community are described in a general fashion in the governing document, but there is a lack of concrete political guidelines.The public library's response to the demands of the local commu-nity is described to some length in the operational plan, but not with respect to economical factors.The demands of the local community are reflected to some length in the marketing of library services on the library website. Many of the overall themes that we identify in the governing document and the operational plan can be found in the marketing directed towards important target groups..

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

The aim of this master?s study is to examine the function of the public library in the local community at present. I have searched for the answers to the following questions: Which position has the public library in the local cultural policy? What characterizes each library and which are the priorities? What is the local profile of the public library? What cooperation partners does the public library have and what do they mean to the library? Does the public library intensify the local community in any way? To answer this, I have made three qualitative case studies. Interviews and collection of documents were carried out in three different communities.

Local history collections are fairly common among the Swedish public libraries and these collections often contain older or rare material. There are no national policies concerning the preservation of rare books at the public libraries, and the librarians of public libraries may lack that knowledge. The aim of this study is to examine librarians? attitudes toward their libraries? local history collections. We interviewed five librarians in the county of Västra Götaland and also made a small observation study of their local history collections.

Zambia is a country in Southern Africa where poverty is widespread and the traditional keeping of local poultry therefore plays a crucial role in improving nutrition. Meat and eggs from poultry are important sources of protein but also of income. Improving the poultry production is thereby a method to fight poverty. For poultry, the access to light is an important factor for both growth and egg production. In this paper, the focus is on the traditional village chickens used for both egg and meat production, how they are kept, their health and welfare and if the use of a solar lamp will influence their behaviour, growth and egg production. Three studies were conducted in Chibombo and Choma Districts in Zambia were 17 farmers were interviewed regarding the village chicken management of which six farmers participated in a solar lamp experiment.

The purpose of this study was to look into the work of care organizers for elderly care, in three municipalities in southern Sweden, and how they use the law and local guidelines to evaluate the need for home care. The intention was to determine if presence of relatives makes a difference in the needs assessment and if the care organizers practice harmonize with the guidelines. To do this, we did a qualitative study alongside with analyzing each of the local guidelines. By interviewing five care organizers, we were able to see their side of elderly care and how they combine the law and local guidelines in their daily work with elderly care. Our main themes are, in short, the law and local guidelines, the view of care organizing and needs and also closeness to relatives.