AbstractEssay in Political Science, autumn 2010. ?ALBA ? A regional integration project with good conditions?? Autor: Anna Sjögren. Course: Political Science, C-level, Tutor: Sten Berglund An essential part of the political science research on regional integration has been about why states join economic unions and what forces drive the process of integration. This essay is a case study on the Latin American regional integration project called ALBA.

When a decision is to be made on what long term strategic forest management plan to use, consideration must often be taken to multiple objectives. Such decisions are very complex and a promising approach to handle them is by Multiple Criteria Decision Analyses (MCDA). The study is based on the problem that the MCDA that have been implemented into forest management planning have only had capacity to compare and evaluate a limited number of management plans; which means that there is a risk the most suitable plan is missed. The aim with this study was to test the applicability of combining the MCDA tools: the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for including consideration to multi-objectives into strategic forest management planning. The study was based on the process of creating and selecting a management plan, using Heureka PlanWise, suitable for all the major objectives found in the forest holdings of a municipality in northern Sweden.

Background: The global responsibility for multinational companies is a current matter of subject. Now when the world increasingly is getting globalized, economic growth is created, which brings a bigger demand of responsibility on companies. The leading companies from every industry is often becoming the frame for how the production process works and is therefore exposed to outer pressure which, for example, is coming from consumers and the media. Since consumers at present are more aware of what they are buying and where it comes from, it is important that the companies take social responsibility. We have therefore studied three big companies within the clothing industry to see in witch way they are taking their social responsibility.Purpose: Our purpose was to explore how companies within the clothing industry describe their work with Corporate Social Responsibility, code of conducts and where the incentive behind this work is coming from.Method: We have, through a qualitative study, examined how three large companies work with Corporate Social Responsibility.

Background: The world of sports possesses a lot of knowledge when it comes to leadarship and coaching. Coaching as a term is relatively new to the business industry and something that is up and coming among alot of companies. Leadership and coaching are two terms that can be combined with each other both in sports and in the business industry.Objectives: This study aims to compare leadership in sports and in the business industry. The purpose is to see if they can learn from each other and how they define the term leadership.Method: Interviews were chosen as a method in this study. Six individual interviews were performed and there were three leaders from the business industry and three leaders from the world of sport participating in the study.

This paper aims to examine how children who have experienced violence against their mother experience their school and if the school somehow can compensate for the vulnerable situation of the children?s home situation. The data is an already collected material there interviews with abused children are done. The results presented consist of the previous research in the area where the empirical material analyzed from the developing ecological theory and based on children's different abilities to master life and then give an voice to the collected research. The results showed that if the violence in the family does not affect the child's sleep or the parents do not prioritize enough for the child to get the sleep he/she needs and that the child is not serious difficulty concentrating, it seems that children can use school to learn and enjoy this learning.

Purpose: The main objective of this study is to research whether an announcement of an acquisition generates positive/negative abnormal short-term return towards the buying company?s shareholders. The secondary purpose is to research whether any differences could be due to selected factors: firm size and industry.Method: The study is quantitative in nature where the research aims at the stock price movement around the announcement of an acquisition. The sample size includes 30 companies between the years 2000-2010. The abnormal return is investigated by an Event Study.Conclusion: Our study shows that the publication gives a positive abnormal return in comparison to the respective sector indexes.

The absence of female directors on Swedish corporate boards is currently a hot topic for both politicians and business leaders all over the world. This thesis aims to discuss reasons for the scarcity of women on boards in Swedish publicly listed companies as well as what actions are taken to alter the composition of these boards. A rigorous selection of gender theories have been used together with data collected from in-depth interviews with mainly board members and nomination committees. Extensive analysis has led to findings that historical perceptions of differences between men and women linger as of today, which prevents women to reach top executive levels as well as board positions. The increasing use of headhunters has encouraged companies to look beyond male-dominated networks in an attempt to widen the range of potential board nominees.

The object of this two years master's thesis has been to study a specific genre of personal archives by examiningthe archives of nine parents who have lost one or several infants. Using internet-based methods, (e-mail, Skypeand digital photographs), I have conducted qualitative research using a general interview guide technique. Usingresearch from archival theory as well as other fields, my material has been arranged and analysed according tothemes and recurring thoughts picked up from my informants during the interviews.My main theoretical aid has been that the role of parent who has lost a child is the starting point for the creationof the personal archives. Another important theory is my definition of the term ?document? as not dependent onmedium and format, but on usage: if an object has been used as a part of an archive, it is a document.

This paper is about if municipal council's ideology affect steering in the municipalities of Vellinge and Fagertsa. Vellinge has for a long time been governed by Sweden's conservative party Moderaterna. Fagersta has for a long time been governed by Sweden's left party Vänsterpartiet. The main question of the paper to be answered is as follows:Is there a relation between the steering in municipalities and the ideology of the governing parties?The hypothesis is that there is a connection between what ideology the party that governs has and how the municipalities are being governed.

In Sweden according to the planning and building Act municipalities have planning monopoly. The question about shopping centres in the outskirts of cities is a regional issue, because they attract customers from a large area. Municipalities often find it hard to assert themselves against large commercial companies when it comes to their establishing new retail outlets on the outskirts of cities. Without a regional co-operation there is a risk that municipalities can be played up against one another, so that more and more companies are given permits without the municipalities having taken the strategic consideration necessary for a long term sustainable development. The focus in this work is on four municipalities in the Södertörn region (Södertälje, Botkyrka, Huddinge and Nynäshamn).

The average life expectancy and the proportion of elderly are increasing globally and inSweden, causing challenges for the society. Physical activity has proven to bring a number ofpositive benefits in older people, making the promotion of physical activity an important partof healthy aging attempts. The degree of physical activity in Sweden?s elderly population isgreater than in previous generations, making this group a positive exception from a widerperspective. A cross sectional study was made in order to investigate which motives tophysical activity that was considered most important among people above 60.

As an effect of increased living standards and improved health care, life expectancy has risen in many parts of the world. At the same time, welfare diseases such as diabetes and obesity increases. As the number of elderly and long-term sick rises, so will the medical care needs. E-health applications are often presented as a way to meet future medical and doing so within the scope of existing resources. By facilitating health communication and widen access to health services by offering them online, e-health applications encourages people to become more engaged in their own health, thus working proactively towards a healthier population.

 Uppsatsen analyserar klimatterminologin på Naturvårdsverkets webbplats under vårvintern 2009. Fokus ligger på termerna miljö, klimat, klimatbelastning och klimatpåverkan. Syftet är att se om terminologin är enhetlig för om den är enhetlig, så når man lättare ut med sitt budskap. Genom att sålla ut klimattermerna från Naturvårdsverkets webbplats har begreppen fastställts och terminologin analyserats med hjälp av fackexperter och terminologisk metod. Nybildning av klimattermer innebär ofta sammansättningar med ordet klimat. Vissa termer används konsekvent medan andra förklaras på olika sätt i en och samma text. Klimat är en term som är tydligt och klart definierad och används konsekvent i texten.

Truancy is a problem in the Swedish schools today, just as well as in other European and other developed countries where educataion is gratuitous. Teachers all over Sweden go to classes with a clear and well-planned schedule for the day. But some are unable to do their work because of asent students. In this study I have chosen to focus on the perspective of the youths and the main question is: how do students discuss and think about truancy. During the study I have chosen a qualitative approach and have therefore done observation in various classes in a Swedish senior high school in a suburb outside Stockholm during twelve weeks.

The aim of this study was to look into the approach of swedish journalists towards Twitter and how they apply the media ethics when using Twitter.The method for this research was a survey answered by 371 Swedish journalists, from workplaces of various contents and geographical spread, of which 271 were users of Twitter. Our results are based on the survey and theories such as the social responsibility theory, the code of ethics for the Swedish press, radio and television, gatekeeping, normalizing twitter and the private sphere of Habermas.Our results showed that swedish journalists aim to apply the media etics in most aspects such as objectivity and gatekeeping. Also the guidelines of using twitter as a journalist, according to the respondents, mainly comes from the workplace and not the code of ethics. It also showed that the majority of the journalists were pleased with the current guidelines, or the absence of guidelines..