AbstractThe aim of our study was that from a Preschool Manager?s perspective to describe, analyze and understand the function of special education and the Special Education Teacher?s profession within preschools. We conducted twelve interviews with Preschool Managers in two northern Swedish municipalities. From a theoretical base, we used both the relational and categorical perspectives. All answers from these interviews have been analyzed from these perspectives.

This paper is the result of a study of competition and cooperation in regard to tourism between the five largest municipalities in Norrland in northern Sweden. The municipalities are Luleå, Skellefteå, Umeå, Sundsvall and Gävle. The aim was to study the relation between competition and cooperation between these municipalities. An important theoretical aspect in this study is coopetition, where competition and cooperation occur at the same time. The studies on coopetition in the Nordic kontext is limited and the main literature on coopetition study the relationship between firms. This study however takes a geographical standpoint and aims to fill the gap in the literature on how competition and cooperation are connected to each other between chosen municipalities. To do this the tourism strategies of the municipalities were studied thoroughly. These written strategies provided information about how the municipalities view their competitive advantages and disadvantages and some general information about how they cooperate with the nearest regions. To find out how the municipalities think about competition and cooperation with the other four specific municipalities interviews were made with experts on the tourism field in each municipality. The results show that the municipalities do not have established strategies for how they are to be competitive compared with other specific municipalities. They do not see it as profitable to compete, instead they should complement each other. At the same time however, most of the municipalities mostly cooperate with municipalities in a short distance from them, and due to lack of resources only briefly or not at all with the municipalities studied here..

The aim for the project was to develop a risk analyse tool for measuring the fire safety level in Cultural Heritage buildings of Visby, Gotland. In 1995 Visby were taken into the Unesco:s World Heritage List with the explanation ?Visby is an outstanding example of a Northern European walled Hanseatic town which has in a unique way preserved its townscape and its extremely valuable buildings? One of the demands for the tool was that it should be easy to use and result into a ranking level in examined buildings. The user of the tool is recommended to be personnel in the fire department. To develop the tool a Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) method was used.

In recent years it has become way more important for organizations to use their brand to market themselves as an employer. In a market where organizations are competing for labor it has been known that the brand can make it possible for organizations to differentiate themselves as unique and attractive place of work. The concept is called Employer Branding and if an organization wants to suceed they have to have a clear and defined structure. The concept is well known among private organizations and not as common with the public sector. The purpose of this study was to examine how a small municipality in northern Sweden is working to be an attractive employer.

This essay describes and compares the extensive reindeer management to the more intensive, but grazing based, sheep management system in Sweden. Differences and similarities between the two production systems will be investigated by elucidating the economy, land use and possibilities to influence production and economy through breeding, feeding and product development. The reindeer management area covers the northern part of Sweden whilst the sheep management is dispersed over the country. Both reindeer and sheep are ruminants and have relatively high demands on the quality and digestibility of the feed however reindeers graze on mountain-and forest lands whilst sheep often graze inaccessible areas or cultivated grasslands. Selection intensity is generally lower in the reindeer management compared to the intensity in sheep breeding.

The purpose of this thesis is to show how a good approach can be designed, focusing on the southern approach to the Swedish town Vilhelmina. Prior to the car being part of everyday life, the approach was a road where the town showed itself from the very best side. When the amount of traffic increased, so did noise and other disturbances, and as a consequence industrial areas replaced the residential buildnings at the approaches. Today, the pendulum is turning back and in recent years the approach is regarded as a place to introduce the town. The approach is also the place where cars should slow down from the speed of the main road to the speed of the city.

AimThe purpose of this study is to investigate how schools who have a health concentration and schools who haven?t are teaching physical education and if possible compare these schools.This study is based on following questions: How do schools with a health concentration and schools who haven?t, in compulsory school, teach physical education and health. How do physical education teachers describe their teaching and how do the students describe it.MethodMy study is a qualitative study based on interviews with teachers and students from different schools. The interviews have been made on four different schools from all over the country. I have interviewed one physical education teacher and four students, two boys and two girls, from each school.

To investigate effects of nitrogen on in-lake CO2 and CH4 production during winter, three pair of lakes was subject for a fertilizing experiment in which one lake in each pair was fertilized with nitric acid (HNO3) directly into the water column in the summer of 2012. The lakes in each pair are assumed to be morphologically, hydrologically and biologically similar, that is, the non-fertilized lakes are considered references. The pairs do differ in one major way by being progressively less humic, going from around 25 mg/l to 10 mg/l DOC. Sampling and analysis was carried out at the end of the frozen period in 2013. Results show a significantly higher concentration of both CO2 (p<0,001) and CH4 (?=0,1, p=0,053) between impact and reference sites in the two less humic pairs.

An introduction to the complexity which surrounds the matters of land in the northern parts of Sweden was the purpose of this thesis. The agriculture colonization, the delimitation and the development of forestry and mining business were big events which are shown from the view of property rights. The situation of the Lappish people and how their situation has changed through the history was the main theme of the thesis. Hopefully this thesis will also serve as a support while reading for example investigations published by the government and judgments by courts. Supply to the resources of nature has always been decisive for the survival of humans.

Smallholder farmers in low-income countries face a number of challenges in animal production. Animal husbandry carries great potential in reducing poverty, hunger and gender inequality, but at the same time infectious diseases are prominent threats to farmers? livelihoods and their animals. The objective of this study was to investigate the socioeconomic impact of infectious animal diseases on smallholder farmers in low-income countries, using African swine fever (ASF) in Uganda as an example. The study was conducted in two parts. The first part of the study was questionnaire-based and performed in Gulu district, northern Uganda.

This essay describes and compares the extensive reindeer management to the more intensive, but grazing based, sheep management system in Sweden. Differences and similarities between the two production systems will be investigated by elucidating the economy, land use and possibilities to influence production and economy through breeding, feeding and product development. The reindeer management area covers the northern part of Sweden whilst the sheep management is dispersed over the country. Both reindeer and sheep are ruminants and have relatively high demands on the quality and digestibility of the feed however reindeers graze on mountain-and forest lands whilst sheep often graze inaccessible areas or cultivated grasslands. Selection intensity is generally lower in the reindeer management compared to the intensity in sheep breeding.

Vole populations in northern Scandinavia vary in cycles with peaks every third or fourth year as described by the National Environmental Monitoring Programme of small mammals (NEMP). Some vole species have declined in population numbers since the NEMP started in 1971, especially the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) which is nearly extinct in the forested region. Since small mammals are an important food source for several avian and mammalian predators, the decline in vole numbers is expected to have consequences for the whole food chain, especially if other vole species start to decline in numbers. This study tried to test the hypothesis that presence and abundance of M. rufocanus (a specialist species) and Myodes glareolus (a generalist species) can be predicted by patch size and connectivity of forest patches >60 years old with a minimum of 15% pine >100years old.

The purpose of this master thesis is to implement and validate a Power System Stabilizer (PSS) to a generator at Trängslet hydropower station in Dalarna, Sweden. Problems with local rotor oscillations can occur at the hydropower station when power is transferred on a new power line (130 kV) from Northern to Southern part of Dalarna. To ensure good operation properties on this power line Fortum Generation AB and Fortum Distribution AB wants to activate a PSS on a generator.There have been investigations in which situations and what equipment that contributes to rotor oscillations. When this is known the PSS is tuned to damp these oscillations by choosing a good set of parameters. The most important parameters for good performance are to choose amount of gain and phase compensation.

The castle Vivesholm is located about two miles north of Klintehamn on the west side of Gotland. The castle was built around year 1395 and burned down in the end of the 14thcentury. Around the 17th and the 18th century the castle was re-used. However, the emphasis on its use is during the middle ages.This paper aims at getting an insight in the animal husbandry at Vivesholm by analyzing the osteological material. The analysis revealed that bones from sheep/goat were more common than bones from cattle.

Risk-based sampling program of microorganisms in the water source in northern SwedenAfter several disease outbreaks caused by parasites in the drinking water during the last years, it is more essential than ever to insure that the water supply companies have enough barriers to counteract the presence of microorganisms in the outgoing water. It is also discussed whether climate changes such as increased precipitation can have a connection to the increased cases of parasites in water sources. The water source at Gäddvik is Luleå municipality?s largest and provides drinking water to 64 500 of Luleå?s 74 000 inhabitants. The investigation of microorganisms in the water source, especially in the Lule River has not been as prioritized as the sampling of chemical parameters.