Over the past twenty years, the cooperation within the European Union (EU) has strengthened and expanded with both more number of Member States and stronger influence on international politics. The unique character of the Union and its ability to enforce peace and humanitarian intervention has attracted attention in political science. This prominent position of the Union is perceived by many scholars who often hold this derived from the Union's influence in international relations. Various terms have been used to define the powers of the Union. The British researcher Ian Manners states that the unique identity of the Union in the international arena is formed by its normative power.  An important policy area within the Union is the environmental cooperation.

The purpose was to examine how the pre-schools used the public libraries in two Swedishtowns. We also examined if and how the pre-schools and the public libraries were coopera­ting.Literature showed that it is possible to stimulate children's language development and this is a duty for pre-schools and public libraries. We sent an inquiry to all pre-schools divisions in both towns. We interviewed two librarians. Our results showed that the pre-schools did use the libraries to a great extent but they didn't cooperate with the libraries in the sense that they had elaborated agreements.

This thesis work is intended to analyze whether the municipalities has a need for the new technology of mobile mapping.Mobile mapping consists of the technologies of laser scanning, photographing and positioning of streets and roads in city environment and in the countryside. When these technologies are operating together a georeferenced three-dimensional image model is created, which has specific coordinates that states its position on the surface of the earth. Thanks to the laser scanning process even measuring can be performed in this model.The municipal sector consists of many different departments which use visual spatial information. These departments are an interesting target group for this system. Specific departments within the municipal sector, which we considered were the most suitable, have been selected.

A fauna passage is a way for animals to cross roads separated from the traffic. In Sweden, there are an unknown number of passages with different functions and appearances. These passages would, with the question ?Which fauna passages can be found in Sweden, and how well do they work?? as a base, be compiled in a comparable way. This would be done with a number of questions asked to the different regions of Vägverket.

First-year students at Linköping University have developed a prototype that graphically visualizes a medical record in a new way. The customer of that project was the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Linköping University. They now want a usability evaluation to be performed of the prototype. The prototype is to be used by employees in the public health care and is supposed to be used on a small portable unit with a multi-touch interface. For this reason the prototype will be used as a complement to existing systems when the users work near the patients.

Our aim was to explore employees' experiences of exposure to violence, threats of violence as well as their experiences of encountering victims of violence and to relate their experiences to Sense of coherence (SOC) and Maslach's burnout inventory (MBI).We sent out a questionnaire to employees at three different workplaces. Our questionnaire included previously validated SOC and MBI questionnaires as well as six additional questions regarding violence. We sought to explore the relationships between experience of exposure to violence and encounters of victims of violence and SOC and MBI. We found that employees with a higher level of SOC exposed to violence or threats felt a higher level of security. In encountering victims of violence we found that employees with a lower level of SOC more frequently experienced indifference, fear and anger.

AbstractBackground: An elective surgery can be something new that is frightening and unpleasant. The children and their individual needs are not always considered when surgery is prepared. Children?s needs differ and depend on their sense of coherence. Aim: The purpose of this study was to illuminate how children experience preparations before elective surgery.

Mergers and acquisitions are a phenomenon which can occur for a variety of reasons. It may for example be that the organizations want to gain larger market shares or to complement and learn from each other and thus become more competitive. After the completion of an acquisition or merger, a process is initiated to create an affiliation between the two companies' employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is something that management can do to make the integration process as efficient as possible. The empirical research in this paper consisted of interviews and surveys with respondents from two accounting firms that recently completed a merger.

The purpose of this investigation is to compare the teaching in reading of three pedagogues in form 2 in three different schools from a second language perspective. Among other things it implies to investigate how the pedagogues think of teaching in reading and the reading field to be compared with if these fields are adjusted to a diverse cultural perspective. This investigation is carried out through observations and interviews. To compare the schools they have been picked out from the number of pupils and the number of second language pupils, that is 15 %, 67 % and 95%. The investigation also includes how the pedagogues weigh the pros and cons within reading and working methods.The further reading is built upon theories and previous research that have an attachment to the view of the sociocultural and the diverse cultural perspectives of teaching.

Title:The issue of unplanned stoppages caused by failure in medical technology equipment ? A study within the hospital of Kalmar with a focus on manage-ment, security and quality Author:Anna Förster, Ambika Linder, Sandra Nyqvist Tutor:Thomas Karlsson Institution:Linnaeus School of Business and Economics - Linnaeus University Kalmar Date:2011-01-14 Purpose:The purpose of this study was to examine unplanned stoppages caused by medical technology equipment failure in the healthcare operation within the hospital of Kalmar. Our study is based on a number of specifically selected incidents which show the consequences these disruptions cause in management, security and quality within the operation. Our intention was also to examine what role the medical technology department of the hospital plays in the care production operation during these unplanned stoppages. Method:Through a qualitative study we have generated material from a number of interviews with staff working in the hospital of Kalmar.

Prostitution has for a long time been an understudied field in economics. Due in part to a lack of quantitative and empirical material, itself largely a result of the illegality or semi-illegality of the activity in most countries, the factors that explain the prevalence of, and pricing in, prostitution have remained largely undiscussed. In the last 20 year, this have begun to change: new theories ? notably by Edlund & Korn (2002), Rao et al (2003) and Della Giusta et al (2009) ? have been formulated and the rise of internet based escort sites have made large scale quantitative studies possible. This thesis examines if, and in what way, court documents can help expand the understanding of the economics of prostitution in Sweden.

This thesis includes a review of scientific studies of tree injuries following mechanized thinning. Interviews have been made with drivers of single grip harvesters and forwarders in forest thinning and a number of essential factors have been identified as the most important to take into account in order to minimize and/orprevent injuries to stems and roots of remaining trees..

The aims of the silvicultural method natural regeneration of spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) in birch (Betula pendula and pubescens) shelterwoods are to establish a new stand of tree seedl-ings and to protect those from high groundwater levels, frost damages and grass competition during its first life years. The aim of this work has been to (i) describe how shelterwood and stand characteristics influ-ence the results from using natural regeneration of spruce protected by a shelterwood of birch, and to (ii) compare those regeneration results with planting of spruce after soil scarification in clear-cut areas. Totally 17 harvesting sites have been inventoried and 15 of those included natural regenera-tion in birch shelterwoods, and two were subjects to soil scarification and planting of spruce. The sites represented 7-10 year old final cuts and are located in the coastal (eastern) region of the province of Norrbotten in Sweden. In all areas shelterwood and stand characteristics, as well as the number of main crop seedlings and the height of the highest main crop spruce seedling, were estimated and registered in all areas.

Background: Thanks to the globalization and the EU the international trade is growing faster than ever and companies are able to change ownership across the borders of the nations. Today one can talk about global marketplace with a deeper integration of the economies of the world. The rapidly growing list of mergers of Swedish companies since the last 10 years indicates that the global companies of today is using mergers as a strategic tool for continue their growth. However the number of unsuccessful mergers is big. The need of understanding and knowledge about different cultures is growing in the global business climate of today, since the collaborations across de national borders are increasing.Problem formulation: Which international strategies are fortunate in international mergers with Swedish companies?Purpose: The purpose is to analyze the integration of the three mergers; Vin&Sprit ? Pernod Ricard, Astra - Zeneca and Telia ? Sonera.Method: This study is a case study with a qualitative approach.

The purpose of the study was to examine possible aspects concerning the choice to play as good or evil with a focus on the players´ subjective experience. A form was constructed and the material was interpreted according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The games Mass Effect I and II were used as an example of the choice to play as good or evil since the choice between Renegade (evil) and Paragon (good) is present. The sample consisted of individuals who had played Mass Effect I and/or Mass Effect II and were over 18 years old. The end result concerning who played a Renegade or a Paragon came to be very uneven (15 out of 16 participants played a Paragon) which means that the result mostly relates to possible aspects concerning the choice to play a Paragon.