The aim of the project was to investigate if Swedish rodents, brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), house mouse (Mus musculus), wood mouse (Apodemus spp) and water vole (Arvicola terrestris) captured in pig herds and in urban areas, constitute a reservoir for pathogenic Leptospira spp. Under Swedish conditions leptospirosis gives rise to reproductive disorders in pigs and symptoms of flu in humans. It has long been established that rodents are chronic carriers of pathogenic leptospires in their kidneys, and can spread the bacteria with urine. The old nomenclature of serovoars is still in use, but a new system of genetic classification has developed and today the genus Leptospira contains 17 species. There are several diagnostic test developed for leptospirosis.

Social policy has now received an increased attention in the European Union. The European welfare states experience a high level of unemployment, which the EU now tries to handle through the European Employment Strategy (EES). The core of this essay is whether the welfare institutions of the European member states are integrating through an institutionalization process or not. Within the EU four different types of welfare models can be identified: the Scandinavian, the Continental, the Southern and the Anglo-Saxon. The welfare models differ in the institutional settings e.g.

The ski resort is a business unlike any other. While providing the customer with a service, it produces the service in a manner that in many respects resemble the traditional producing company. Therefore, since the challenges facing the ski resort are a mixture of what can be found in these different environments, this study aims to investigate the applicability of Lean principles in this context. With a qualitative approach based on direct observation, combined with survey data from 2819 respondents, we evaluate the expected effects on customer value of ten commonly defined Lean principles. The study finds that although Lean theory can help disseminate customers throughout the resort and provide greater transparency, the nature of the operations calls for caution.

Marketers are today confronted with new forms of media and tend to use different strategies to exploit these media. The podcast medium has emerged in a time of changes in terms of media planning. By using stimuli containing identical context with different forms of advertising, this thesis seeks to explore whether ads, sponsorships or product placements is more favourable for an advertiser to practice in the podcast medium. The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in communication effects, such as attitude towards the brand and purchase intention, depending on the form of advertising. Testing if previous research, made on the same format but in different media, is applicable in the podcast medium carries out the study.

Since 1 January 2010 it is a requirement to use the European standards, Eurocodes, in Sweden when constructing bridges. One chapter that has caused an extra amount of problems for the engineers is the one about fatigue analysis, which resulted in us doing this thesis.To do this we had to read all of the Eurocodes that direct, or indirect deals with fatigue and calculating of such. We have read the background documents for the Eurocodes and master?s thesis in the subject. We also studied the calculations of bridges constructed by different construction firms.We have chosen to limit the thesis to discuss only road bridges made of concrete due to the lack of method for verification of concrete in the national appendix.

According to The National Board of Health and Welfare, about 200 000 elderly persons get some help or support with eating or nutrition problems. This was approximately 2 percent of the population. Older people in sheltered accommodation in community care were not able to manage their own nutrition. The older people were dependent on the food that was offered to them, when and how the food was served. This was a specific responsibility for the nursing staff.

It is important that organizations today focus on continuous improvements in order to face the growing competition in the world. A company needs a corporate culture that supports and encourages the employees to be creative and innovative in their work. This is necessary for the company if they are striving towards continuous learning and development within their organization.The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how the culture differences between Sweden and China affect Sandvik AB. We will also study how the company manages continuous improvements and what consequences culture differences have on their work.Our paper is a single case study at Sandvik AB in Sweden and China. We have visited Sandvik in Sandviken to conduct a series of interviews with employees of different position within the company and with dissimilar work tasks.

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to describe the social media usage of five European official national tourism organizations (NTO). The essay proceeds to discuss and evaluate the findings, whilst reflecting on the advantages of social media usage from the point of view of an official national tourism organization.Method: The authors used three different methods of research: one structured observation to study the national tourism organizations? everyday work in social media, one field stimulation to study if and how different NTO respond if a prospective visitor makes them a direct question via social media and finally an email interview to gain insight into NTO?s underlying strategies and policies about social media usage.Theoretical framework: The theories that have been used in this paper include the Uses and gratifications model, theories of one-way and multi-way communication, theories of social media and relationship marketing.Conclusion: By making use of social media the company releases some of its control to the customers as the latter can express their opinions freely in this type of media. One of the advantages of social media is that the platform favors dialogue and feedback. Social media can be used for traditional one-way communication, but works best as a supplement to the regular marketing activities, allowing the activities on social media platforms to focus on branding and building long-term customer relationships.

Background: The prevalence of dementia increases both in Sweden and in the rest of the world. People with dementia often display some types of behavioral and psychological symptoms. These symptoms include, among other things, aggressiveness, inactivity, activity disturbance, anxiety, hallucinations and depression. The symptoms can create a negative impact of those with dementia, their caregivers and their next of kin. Aim: To describe the effect of non-pharmacological treatments have on the behavioral and psychological symptoms of people with dementia.

This essay examines whether, and if so to which extent, the project Export MatureDestination in the Biosphere Reserve Vänerskärgården with Kinnekulle can combine the goalof the tourism industry, i.e. to double tourism between 2010 and 2020, and the goals of theBiosphere reserve, i.e. sustainable societal development and a sustainable biosphere economy.The aim is to examine how key individuals in the project approach sustainable developmentand economic growth, representing the two main interests in the area. Examining the state ofthe two interests the following examples are used: the position of sustainable development inregard to economic growth, the opportunities and challenges in the area and unity concerningthe goals of the tourism development in the region. The study is conducted through qualitativeinterviews with key individuals and a descriptive document analysis of the most importantpolicy documents.

In this essay I compare the description of the Thirty Years? War in a number of German and Swedish encyclopedias published between 1854 and 2005. The essay is a historiographical research with focus on three areas; the description of the war background, the reason of the Swedish intervention in the war and the picture of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf with the consequences of the war and the peace of Westphalia. I want to analyze the differences and similarities in the way the history is being told in the German and Swedish encyclopedias. The research shows a transformation from a narrative, nationalistic, partial description with focus on individuals and specific events to a more analytical and objective description with focus on structures.

This study was conducted on behalf of SCA forest AB, Västerbottens forest administration. Timber procurement from non-industrial private forest owners has become an increasingly important part of SCA:s wood supply. The objectives of this study was to report the current forest conditions in the private forests in the county of Västerbotten, analyse the potential for procurement of wood from private forest owners, and provide a basis for decisions on future strategies for timber procurement from private owners.Material and data have been collected from different sources, mainly from Swedish National Forest Inventory and SKA-VB08. This material was the basis for the analysis and calculations performed with the Heureka application PlanWise. This study area was divided into six different analytical areas (Coastal south, Coastal middle, Lycksele, Inland south, Inland north, Skellefteå), where each area of analysis is represented by a number of municipalities.In this study, two scenarios were specified; one describing the current forest management with current harvesting levels and the effects of these assumptions, the second to illuminate what potential there is for future timber harvesting.

In many of the world's countries, there is a national organization responsible for marketingthat country as a tourist destination. Through their offices, these organizations work towardsthe creation of effective strategies and a deeper understanding of local markets. Usingqualitative methods such as interviews, observations, and thematic analysis, we managed toinvestigate how the Czech and the German national tourist offices operate, and whatstrategies they are implementing to increase the volume of tourism. The study focused on theanalysis and comparison of the organizations' goals and communication channels.The results show that the investigated tourist boards operate in a similar manner with smalldifferences concerning choice of strategies and communication channels. These discrepanciescan be partly explained by differences in the organization's ownership forms and theconsequences that follow that fact.

The aim of the present paper was to see why a recommended course of action is not always followed in the way it is supposed to. The paper deals with a new method (SFA-metoden) used by The Social Insurance Agency in working with sick-listed people. Aspects that are elaborated on are local effects of the method at its introduction, case managers work conditions, and control of the implementation of the method. Two different methods of investigation have been employed. On the one hand, previous reports on the method have been analysed, and, on the other hand, two focus groups interviews, one consisting of case managers´ working with the method, and one constituted by their supervisors have been carried out.The results have been analysed in accordance with, on the one hand, the theory of street level bureaucrats and, on the other hand, certain concepts applied in the new institutionalism.

This study aims to investigate and describe the direction of the ideological development of the Swedish gymnastics association Gymniska Förbundet. Between 1928 and 1932, this organization transformed from a purely gymnastic and cultural association into an influential platform for the production of Swedish nationalist ideology. Based on theories of National Socialism?s formation within modern society, the analysis focus on the conditions regulating Gymniska Förbundets relation to modernity. Thus the study examines the association?s ideas in relationship to the concept of modernity.