New family stuctures are constantly emerging in society. Are these changes mirrored in foster care practice? The aim of this study was to explore to what extent homosexual families are represented when a child is given a foster home. The nuclear family has throughout history been assured a stable position both in society as well as in the foster care practice. During the last ten years a homosexual relationship has been legaly accepted through different amendents and it has also been more integrated and accepted in society.

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) has for many years been used in products to reduce their flammability, mainly in electronic products, textiles and construction materials. In 2003, Sweden imported 300 tons of brominated flame retardants. Leakage of these compounds has polluted natural environments. Fishes has shown increased contents of these substances, especially fat fish, since brominated flame retardants tends to accumulate in fatty tissues. They are also regarded as persistent and that gives them the ability to travel long distances. What also is really scary is that increased levels of brominated flame retardants have been detected in human breast milk. The knowledge of the brominated flame retardants is limited and not so much research has been done in this field. There are many reasons though, to keep the research going. Partly their structural resemblance to well-known toxics as PCB, but also their ability to accumulate in biological systems and enrich in food chains. In which way they affect humans we really don?t know yet.

Is there such a thing as unadulterated nature? All that surrounds us is culturally modified by man somewhere along our past. But culture is only a fictitious conception itself, created in an attempt to break the world into controllable objects.So in what do we find culture? In everything? In the objects or the stories they embrace? Who chooses what?s worth saving and how to save? Choosing what is culture is made from personal, ingrained dichotomies of what?s important and what is not. A selective eye creates a distorted truth, which could have unintentional long-term effects.This thesis will give a historical account of the archaeological discipline?s development in tending to our cultural heritage.

Magdalena Rudenschöld (born 1766, died 1823) was a woman in Swedish history, who lived a turbulent life. As a young woman she was employed at the Swedish court and got to know the king of that time, Gustaf III, and she became the mistress of one of his closest deputies, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt. After the killing of Gustaf III, a temporary government was formed. This was a regency that was put there on behalf of Prince Gustaf Adolf, since he was not yet of age to run the country. The commission to conduct this temporary government was given to Duke Carl, who was the dead king?s brother.King Gustavus III?s former employees and Officers were after the king?s death, opposed by the temporary government, and they were moved to other assignations.

The aim of this study is to investigate which communication strategies and channels the mu- nicipal company Falu Energi & Vatten should use in order to become more efficient in com- municating with citizens between 18 to 29 years old. The company is owned by the munici- pality of Falun and manages community services in electricity, district heating, fresh water, sewerage, metropolitan area network and waste disposal. The following theories have been used in the study: convergence culture, digital natives, information overload, communication strategies and uses & gratifications theory. The methods used in the study are 4 focus group interviews and one informant interview. The members of the focus groups where within the age range 18-29 years and lived in the city of Falun.

The purpose of this essay is to contribute to an extensive understanding of former criminals and addicts. These people are facing several difficulties and possibilities during childhood, adolescence, the active period, the turning-point and life after the turning-point and we have examined what they might consist of.In this survey we have applied a qualitative method and collected our basis from interviews with former criminals and addicts. Criminality and addiction is a complex problem. There are many different factors which contribute to develop this. The most differential factors are; insecure childhood, low self-esteem and wrong kind of friends.

Cittaslow is an international organization founded in Italy in 1999 by a few towns in Northern Italy, in order to stop the trend of people moving to bigger cities. The aim was to show the advantages of small towns and to strengthen their identities. Falköping is, since the certification in the summer 2008, the first Cittaslow in Sweden. Cittaslow is an international organization founded in Italy in 1999 by a few towns in Northern Italy, in order to stop the trend of people moving to bigger cities. The aim was to show the advantages of small towns and to strengthen their identities.

This thesis discusses the representation of bodies in todays non-fiction television in Sweden. I have chosen to focus on deviant bodies (sexual, deformed or unhealthy) on display in reality-shows and documentaries on SVT, TV4 but especially on the commercial channels TV3 and Kanal5. Also discussed are the viewers emotional and bodily reactions. Altough these shows are different from one another in many respects, I argue that there is also a common thread between them. From a sociological and cultural perspective, and with help of some historical examples, I try to illustrate how we view these shows and what their function is.

The purpose of this study is to establish how a few youngsters have experienced their time in contact families and which, if any, significance their respective ?contact families? has for them today. The study aims to determine the life situation in the youth?s families at the time support through ?contact families? was initiated and the youths? own view of the reasons for this support. We also want to shed light on the meaning that the contact families had on the youth; considering both positive as well as negative meaning.

Some people do not have the opportunity to visit a physical exhibition because of limited time or long travelling distances, it is here the need for a web-based exhibition arises.This dissertation describes the development of an interactive web-site representing a part of a physical exhibition of over 200 interviews on different peoples immigration to inner Scandinavia. The interviews contain text, audio clip, pictures and video clip.The website contains modern programming technologies such as HTML5, ASP.NET MVC3, SQL, JavaScript and jQuery.A cover of the technologies used and how the project has been designed and implemented is explained in the dissertation. In the end of the dissertation we discuss about how the result of the project follows the goals we set up in the start phase. The result of this project is an interactive and easy to use web-site showing a part of the physical exhibition online. An easy administration to insert new information and edit existing without any major computer knowledge..

Due to their complexity and heavy wear from rail traffic, switches are a sensitive part of the railway infrastructure and moreover expensive to maintain. Furthermore, increasing railway traffic not only accelerates the wear rate but also obstructs the necessary maintenance measures. This paper examines the opportunities for a transition to a long-term maintenance strategy in the Swedish railway network. It contains a study of the maintenance strategy of Banverket, and also analyses statistics of errors in the railway infrastructure. The survey was completed utilising interviews with infrastructure managers, maintenance contractors, planners of railway operations and the Banverket material service department.

Grundtanken med detta arbete är att se om utomhuspedagogik möjligtvis främjar lärandet och om det går att finna stöd inom neurologisk forskning för att ta reda på om lärandet stimuleras vid användandet av utomhusundervisning. Undersökningar har genomförts för att se om lärare och elevers syn på utomhusundervisning sammanfaller. Arbetet bygger på litteraturstudier, intervjuer, en observationsstudie, samt enkätundersökningar för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. I denna studie har det framkommit att utomhusundervisning främjar lärandet, främst beroende på de multipla sinnesintryck som utomhusvistelsen skapar. Denna iakttagelse stöds även av neurologisk och pedagogisk forskning.

As a result of my fascination for nature I have chosen to study the possibilities to introduce natural environments on schoolyards. Too many schoolyards are lacking vegetation and many of them look like sterile asphalt deserts. The master thesis consists of two parts. The first part is based on literature studies and the second part in which findings from part one are put into practice. Five examples are presented; four schoolyards in Malmö; Kryddgårdsskolan, Kirsebergsskolan, Rörsjöskolan and Lindängeskolan and one in Kalmar; Åbyskolan. Malmö Naturskola has been working with the chosen areas on the schoolyards in Malmö.

This thesis aims to present the essential background on how to perform climate changeimpact assessments, and to present the results from a climate impact assessment on waterbalance and nitrate leaching for an arable Swedish soil. The soil is a sandy soil in southwesternSweden, grown with spring cereals. This study is meant to be a benchmark example,and cannot be seen as a regional or national assessment for Sweden, rather as an approachto present and analyze the most important parts of these kinds of assessments.A dynamical simulation model (COUP, Jansson and Karlberg, 2004) was used for thisstudy. The model was parameterized and calibrated against data from an experimental site,located in Mellby in Hallands county, south western Sweden. Measurements were carriedout between 1st of April 1988 and 1st of April 1991.

Many persons with long-term illness experience a decline in their quality of life. Perceived Quality of Life is a subjective term based on prior personal experiences and is highly individual. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate perceived Quality of Life in persons with Multiple Sclerosis and to get knowledge if physical therapy changes a person?s quality of life. Three women and three men with a range of disability were interviewed in depth.