This study examines whether the policy breadth and the alternatives in European politics affect variations in voter turnout between member states in elections to the European Union Parliament.The theoretical approach assumes that; a larger political polarization, an increase in EU-skeptical parties and a greater voting mobilization among groups with less means results in higher voter turnout figures. The study also consider four other variables; whether the election is held on weekends or weekdays, whether elections coincide with other national elections, whether a country has held the presidential of the EU during or the immediate term prior to the election and finally the turnout figures from national elections.The research design is based upon a quantitative analysis using data from EP elections, national elections and databases from the European Elections Studies (EES). Study unit is twelve member-state countries and their four latest EP elections (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). The selected member-states origin from the EU-15 excluding Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg due to their compulsory voting laws.The study found relationships between higher turnout figures in EP-elections and increase in EU-skeptical parties, greater mobilization among groups with less means, elections held on weekends, elections coinciding with other, national elections and an increase in voter figures in national elections..

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether accounting quality is a priced factor by investors. The event studied is the release of year-end result and the release of the annual report. To assess accounting quality a sample of 30 companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2003 to 2007 are studied. We assess accounting quality by the absolute size of discretionary accruals using the modified Jones model developed by Dechow et al. (1995).

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where joints are attacked by the own immune system, leading to chronic inflammation and destruction of bone and cartilage. Inflammation is a complex process, controlled by many different substances. One of them is adenosine, which has anti-inflammatory properties. In this project, three polymorphisms in different genes, involved in synthesis and signaling of adenosine, were genotyped for 188 patients with RA and 362 controls without RA. The results shows that for the polymorphism in A2a, a gene coding for an adenosine receptor, there was no significant difference in genotype distribution between the groups.

Relationships between defence mechanisms and body movements were investigated in regard to three hypothesis; I. that a difference in frequency of body movements correlates to different signs of defence mechanisms, II. that themes of body movements can be identified in regard to signs of defence mechanisms, III. that no significant differences will be found between the different groups of gender. The aim of the study was to seek a relation between quasicommunicative body movements and defence mechanisms.

Aim: The aim was to investigate and describe, how students on high school level in Kronoberg county self rated their health with relation to irritation, nervousness/anxiety insomnia and gender. An additional aim was to investigate if there are differences between students born in Sweden by Swedish parents, students born in Sweden by foreign-born parents and foreign-born students. Methods: A quantitative method was used to analyse data gathered from students (n=1936) on high school level in 2006. All statistical analyses were made with help of SPSS V-12. Finding: The findings showed that most of the students self rated their health as ?good?, however migrant students self rated their health as ?not so good? and they had more problems with insomnia. The overall findings showed gender differences. Particularly, foreign-born girls self rated their health as ?not so good? and reported more problems with insomnia. There was no divergence between the groups regarding irritation, nervousness/anxiety. Conclusion: School nurses and health workers must have deep knowledge about differences in gender, self- rated health and insomnia when they work with public health.

According to FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) shall at least a mean of 10 trees per hectare including riparian zones and other areas with high biological values be left in final felling. In addition large clear areas should not be created and all retained trees with high environmental value shall be spared. To leave trees in final felling means a lower cutting volume and hence a lower income from the cutting, but it also means that the production in the next generation becomes less because of competition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect retained trees have on the production in the new generation of forest, and to investigate if there is any way to lower this effect. The environmental care has also been estimated by the amount left in final felling.

Successful forest regeneration is a prerequisite for sustainable forest management. Therefore, it is important to prevent browsing damage on the commercially important tree species Scots pine. In this study I have tested a new alternative way to increase the available amount of forage and increase the use of these resources by especially moose. The method is based on a slash treatment at harvest, where the accessibility of slash as forage is increased during final felling or commercial thinning by gathering the slash and putting the Scots pine slash on top of the slash piles. This study has compared the availability of forage, the amount of browsed biomass and the number of fecal pellet groups between conventional and slash treated stands after final felling and commercial thinning in southern Sweden.

AbstractThe main objective of this essay is to come to an understanding as to why girls, together in groups, walk against the conventional image of women and take on more violent and aggressive behaviour against their surroundings. In this essay I hope to gain an understanding of how ?girl gangs? work as a social phenomenon as well as identify the characteristics of these gangs. Furthermore, this essay aims to understand what role the violence and aggression plays in the lives of these girl?s.The following questions are the focus of the essay:? Why have girls in groups become more aggressive and violent?? What is characteristic for ?the girl gangs? as a social phenomenon?? What role does the girls? aggressive behaviour play in their life?The essay touches on an escalating problem within society, which has received considerable attention in the media lately.

AimThe purpose of this study is to, from a perspective of a PE teacher, look at how teachers of physical education in elementary school designs and assesses the teaching of swimming. The issues underlying the study are as follows:Which elements are included in the swimming education and how do teachers work with these operations?What does the PE teachers classify as swimming ability and what do teachers experience as obstacles for the students development of swimming ability?How do the PE teachers interpret the knowledge requirement in Lgr 11?MethodThe study is based on six interviews of qualitative nature, with PE teachers from various municipalities in the region of Mälardalen.ResultsThe result yielded by the study is that the swimming classes can take different forms depending on whom the teacher is. Common to all the teachers in the study is that they teach emergency management and lifesaving. When it later comes to teaching how to swim and practice, the teachers who teach in the younger age groups work more concentrated and continuously with swimming, while the teachers who work with the older age groups just checks whether students can swim or not.

Participation is central to the concept of democracy. The role of the civic participation varies with different types of democracy, but a fundamental requirement is that the participation is free and equal. In spite of this, there are significant differences between possibilities to democratic participation in Sweden today.This essay seeks to understand how disability, historically and still today, is constructed as a social deviation from normality, and is constructed to Otherness.One way to regard freedom and equality is to examine the personal autonomy, the legth to wich a person decides her/his roles and activities in abcence of external limitations. Personal autonomy is theoretically central in deliberative and strong democracy, but should reasonobly be a demand for the fundamental definition of democracy.The explanation to why the lack of personal autonomy is accepted, is that the construction of Otherness results in that the persons are categorized and are given simplified characteristics, and are thereby not accepted as equivalent people.In the inteviews conducted, seven politicians contribute both whiteness, pathological discourses regarding disability and ideas of normality through discussing democracy, participation and disability. Simultaniously, they express interest and an awareness on the majority's power and symbolic violence on the minority..

The purpose with this work is to describe the language that is built around the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in Sweden. Our questions are: What does the professional field look like; who writes, about what and for which kind of readers? How do they describe the expressions and the upcoming of CFS? For which reasons can CFS be considered as a medical diagnosis/illness? How can CFS be understood from a social perspective? Our theoretical starting point is a social constructive theory and also Karin Johannisson's theory about medicalization and Foucault?s theory about power. We have from a literature-exposition of Swedish articles from 1989 to 2006, done a social constructive discourse analysis with help from Laclau & Mouffe's discourse theory, and Fairclough's model of social practices. In our textual analysis we found three dominating discourses: A medical discourse, a social/cultural discourse and a general/popular discourse.

Aim: To describe perceptions about written and verbal information regarding diet and physical activity in women with breast cancer and to study possible differences between ages and perception. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted and consisted of 57 women with breast cancer stages I-III who started adjuvant chemotherapy within a year (2007-2008). A questionnaire, regarding their perceptions about the written and verbal information they had received about diet and physical activity, was responded to three months following treatment completion. Between 67-93 % of the participants responded to the questions. The answers was analyzed with descriptive statistics and Mann Whitney U-test.

For centuries Islam and Muslims have been subject to islamophobic attitudes in the west. The purpose with this study was to see into the making of open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims from a conflict in southern Thailand, and also to so see if Muslims are portrayed as more violent than the Buddhist groups in the conflict. The aim of the study is also to see if Muslims fall into a violent stereotype. This was studied by looking at five Swedish newspapers coverage of the conflict, during a given time. To be able to look into this, two theories will be used, the first one is the Runnymede Trust theory, which is about open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims.

In this two-years masters thesis the information practices of former interns are examined in relation to a possible lack of certain kinds of information in the prison environment. The essay is positioned in the research field of information practices which means its looking at all kinds of information, formal and informal. Since the essay is in the field of information practices it means the focus lies in how information is taught whithin contexts and groups. Information is not looked at solely as an individual process but is seen as a collective experience.The method of the essay is that of the qualitative research interview. Besides taking an interest in information practices i investigate whether access of information in prisons could be improved and whether the library organisations could be a part of those improvements.The result of my research shows that information in the prison coming from the correctional institution is not perceived as well functioning.

An overwhelming majority of all male piglets are castrated without anaesthesia when they are very young. In Sweden this means that approximately one and a half million piglets are castrated every year. The reason the piglets are castrated is the strong and unpleasant smell and taste, the ?boar taint? that the meat from intact boars sometimes exhibits. Boar taint is chiefly cause by androstenone and skatole, two compounds that are mostly produced by sexually mature boars and are accumulated in the subcutaneous fat.