The Swedish society woke up Boxing Day 2004 to the greatest disaster in modern times. As a result of a strong earthquake in the Indian Ocean tsunamis occurred that devastated resorts where thousands of Swedes were. In the disasters tracks were uncovered government paralysis and shortcomings of the systems control. The purpose of this study is to examine the capacity and means to demand accountability of politicians and officials of the Swedish political system. Extensive studies and the report from the commission of disasters will form the basis for the study.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine research perspectives and a selection ofmanagers? views on the concept of work motivation. With an exploratory approach,based on a literature review and interviews these views are examined and compared inrelation to a theoretical framework. This theoretical framework consists of three keyconcepts, the individual, the context and the regulation of work motivation. Theliterature review reveals two research perspectives, a classic economic perspectivebased on Principal?Agent Theory and a more up to date social psychologicalperspective based on Self-Determination Theory.

This thesis investigate how energy efficient measures has spread throughout the data centers in Sweden. These questions are put up against a theoretical use of such concepts such as green IT, technological evolution, large technical systems and knowledge dissemination. These theories are used to answer the questions that are encountered during the study, such as how green IT is approached, how big of a role environmental thinking has had in the evolvement of these new technologies. The study has been conducted in a longitudinal manner, it is an observation of the phenomenon that is data centers over a longer period of time. 23 non structured interviews spanning over 27.5 hours of recorded material have been conducted alongside a study of archived material.

The last decades the increased computerisation at the places of work has led to new physical loads in the working life and new demands on the working environment. The widespread usage of computers in the working life has led to more sedentary work and less daily movement.The purpose of the thesis is to develop a new product to a concept that in a low intensive and healthy promotional way will activate the body. The product will make a combination of healthy promotion activity and work during office hours possible and primary aims to those with a sedentary office work, which leads to that the body don´t get to be activated in the extent needed.Information has been gathered from studies already made in this area, interviews plus a study and an experiment. From the gathered information concepts and functional solutions has been generated and evaluated to result in a product concept.The thesis has resulted in a concept that consists of a work place unit where the user walks on a treadmill and works at the same time.A general conclusion which can be drawn is that the majority of persons that tested to walk and simultaneously work with a computor on the treadmill found this way of working attractive. Many were positively surprised and said that they would use such an physically activating work place implement if it was available at their place of work..

In many of the disputes concerning custody, residence and visitation determined by the court, some form of violence has been performed. The consequence of a child who has witnessed violence in their homes is a problem that is sometimes overlooked. It is not unusual that the violence will continue even after a separation. The law shows that the child´s need of both parents is to be met. This has according to previous studies resulted in the fact that courts do not always see visitation with a violent parent as a risk for the child.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Vara municipality has a continuous picture of their identity, profile and image. Globalization has contributed to the increasingly growing of place marketing. Therefore, the study goes on to using the concepts of identity, profile and image to find out if Vara Municipality communicates similar throughout the whole organization and find out their all through core values. Globalisation will be an interpretive framework for the work that describes why the place marketing is becoming more pressing. The sense of place will be a central part of this study as it is the feelings and images of different places that will be described by the municipality together with the identity, profile and image.

The purpose of this study was to examine how a selection of social welfare officers based on the principle of the best interest of the child construct a minimum level of the material standard in a home. Another purpose was to examine whether different units with varying socioeconomic prerequisites in the municipality of Stockholm construct this level differently.The method used in this study was Sociology of Law and two focus groups were used for the gathering of the data. A social constructive theory, a class perspective using concepts of Bourdieu and a perspective of law were used to analyse the material of data.The results showed that the courses of action varied from enactment and the policies of the municipality of Stockholm, unspecified theories of the development of children, the conception of what is normal and what children needs, the context in which they work, the development of the society and what they estimate that children needs when attending school. The results also showed a difference between the two units concerning the minimum level of the material standard in a home.

A growing number of companies realise that to achieve their environmental goals and satisfy stakeholder expectations, they need to look beyond their own facilities and to involve their suppliers in environmental initiatives. A life cycle approach means that the production system should be optimised as whole, across national boarders and individual organisations taking part all the way from extraction to disposal. This study is a Life Cycle Inventory of resources used when producing a piece of cotton garment and the method is based on the standardisation series of ISO 14040-43. The area of study, Tamil Nadu the most southern state of India, accounts for more than 90% of India?s knitwear exports to Western Europe.

This is a final project which makes up 20 credits at the Landscapearchitecture programme at SLU in Alnarp. The thesis is design based. My final project is comprised two parts; of a competition entry for ? A New Square in the Centre of Täby? as well as a theoretical study that derives from the competition proposal. The competiton itself was announced on March 1st 2007 with the final hand-in date on May 28th 2007. The program of the competition asked for a flexible urban square that offers a diverse range of activities that can be used during both night and day, all year around. I became interested in the term ?mutlifunctionality? and I went on to use the subject as a base for my design approach.

In recent years, the demands for effectiveness and evidence in social work have increased in all work areas, including that of healthcare. This has sparked the discussion on concepts such as practical- and theoretical knowledge and their respective roles in social work. In the light of this, the purpose of this candidate thesis is to investigate healthcare social workers understanding of practical- and theoretical knowledge in the working process as well as their respective influence and importance. This candidate thesis is based on three interviews with social workers from different departments in Norrlands Universitetssjukhus in Umeå, Sweden. To provide range to the thesis, the interviewees were chosen from a purposeful sampling.

The product "urinal funnel" for women has fascinated me for a long time. Not only because it solves a practical problem in a simple way, but also because it challenges our definitions of gender and behaviour. This report describes the process of making a new design for a funnel, taking material, ergonomics and construction in consideration. It also includes structuring a launching of the product in Sweden. It starts up with a large amount of information gathering, both by interviewing testgroup-perticipants, but also by researching and evaluating the range of existing funnels.

The purpose of this study is to show what melancholy and irony in my poems express and what techniques that are used to accomplish these effects. Many theorists, among them Sigmund Freud and Julia Kristeva, characterize melancholy as an experience of loss, and therefore one of my questions is what kind of losses appear in my poetry. In search for an answer I analyze the texts from both a psychoanalytic and a sociological point of view. In the latter perspective I discuss the postmodern society using concepts from contemporary thinkers like Zygmunt Bauman, Fredric Jameson and Jean Baudrillard. Finally, I also examine if melancholy has an influence on the form of the poems.

The purpose with this master thesis is to analyze how the Swedish County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) acts in an environment that changes fast with more regional actors than ever before. There are also proposals regarding new public authorities and eventually a reduction of the Swedish County Administrative Board.By studying a report issued by the Board in December 2005 the aim is to find their intentions and actions for the future. By using three diverse theoretical concepts - the public organisation, the instrumental perspective and two separate perspectives from new institutionalism - the expectation is that I will have the possibility to analyze the intentions of the organisation in many different ways.In this case study I also want to take into consideration the central discourses in the regional debate, shall we decentralize or shall we keep on having a strong state even in the future? What kind of regional policy does the Swedish County Administrative Board prefer?The result shows that the Swedish County Administrative Board struggles for a strong state even in the future, but it does not propose any huge changes. In many ways it seems like they act as they are supposed to - as an instrument for the government - but despite that it is obvious that the Swedish County Administrative Board tries to show that it has the traditions and knowledge.

This study aims to examine attitudes and conceptions of staff who work with mentally disabled persons, concerning normalization and gender. Six qualitative interviews with such professionals were performed and subsequently analyzed. Since the method of this study is qualitative, no claim of generalizability is made. The interview material has been categorized into themes by means of coding. The result of the study is presented according to those themes.

It is said that concepts of organizational management can pave the way to success. This is not accurate and it is something that will be shown in the following study. Its most prominent conclusion is that the valuation governance to some extent has an impact on the formal structures, but that it had no further effects on the employee?s way of work. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the valuation governance is applied in Medley AB and the meaning of it.