In these days of globalization, with a higher level of openness and interaction over geographical, cultural and economical borders, the importance of the company?s intangible asset, its brand, is gaining importance as a differentiating factor. Building a strong brand and the emphasis on strategic brand management is something that before was given less attention in firms but today we can see a general increase in awareness and relative emphasis in the strategic work of companies.Countries as brands: Is it possible to consider a nation or a country as a brand the same way you consider a product? Well, looking in to the subject it seems to be a rather complex matter and there are many questions to be asked and answer. Nations around the globe are indeed marketing and positioning themselves for several purposes.

Background: Traditional oral health education is seldom enough in order for dental care personnel to motivate their patients to good, long-lasting oral health care habits and there is a need for evaluation of other more efficient methods. One of these methods is motivational interviewing. An overview of its Origin, definition, theoretical background and practical methods is given by way of introduction. Aim: The aim of the investigation was to review studies that had used motivational interviewing in order to obtain oral health, focusing on prevention and treatment of gingivitis, periodontitis and dental caries. Method: Systematic review. A search question was run through the databases ASSIA, ERIC, PsycINFO, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts and PubMed. The articles were reviewed based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Five publications (based on three studies) met the inclusion criteria.

In article 1.2 c) EC regulation 852/2004 it says that the regulation is not applicable to producers who directly supply small quantities of primary products to the final consumer or to the local retailers who in their turn directly supply the final consumer. An almost identical regulation can be found in article 1.3 c) EC regulation 853/2004. The supply by a primary producer of small quantities of primary products, of animal Origin or not, are consequently excepted from these two hygiene regulations. In article 1.3 EC regulation 852/2004 and article 1.4 EC regulation 853/2004 it says that the member states are to establish national rules in their national legislation as to the regulation of exception for small quantities. The aim of this study was to investigate the handling of small quantities of primary products distributed locally in Sweden but also the handling of these products in other countries.

The cat has evolutionary become an obligate carnivore. Today it is common to feed the cat a dry food. Studies have shown that the dry formula can have negative consequences for the cat. A literature study where conducted to investigate whether the cats Origin makes it incapable to compensate for the changes a dry food entails. The impact and implications regarding water intake, energy intake and blood glucose concentration when feeding the cat dry food where examined.

The conservation of great apes faces many challenges, one of which is the threat of infectious disease outbreaks. Zoonotic transmission of respiratory diseases from humans to wild great apes has recently been confirmed. Since respiratory disease is one of the major causes of death in both gorillas and chimpanzees, this gives reason for major concern. Little is known about the risks of disease transmission from humans to great apes in natural environments, and there is a need for systematic risk evaluation. Researchers, conservation staff and tourists spend time in very close proximity of wild great apes, sometimes during long time periods, which poses a potential risk of disease spillover. However, the presence of researchers and tourists has been shown to decrease the risk of poaching, making the matter increasingly complex.

In a preparatory class are newly arrived students who have no or very little knowledge of the Swedish language. Some of the newly arrived pupils may have arrived in Sweden very recently and some of them have no or very limited understanding and experience of how the school system works in their country of Origin. The purpose of this study is to find out how education in a selected preparatory class works seen from two SVA-teachers and students perspective. Questions related to my purpose reads as follows:In which way can two of the SVA-teachers respond in a selected preparatory class to their group of newly arrived students?What methods can be used by the two SVA-teachers in a selected preparatory class to their group of newly arrived students' language learning?How does the newly arrived student in a selected preparatory class experience their education and friendship?The study was conducted through a qualitative approach in a selected preparatory class in a multicultural school in a suburb in southern Stockholm. Through observations on six separate occasions as well as interviews with two of the SVA- teachers in the selected preparatory class, and with three of the newly arrived pupils during a period of three weeks.

My point of Origin concerning this thesis was an interest for how school may develop students? reading comprehension. International surveys show that the results for Swedish students? performance regarding reading comprehension have declined and the current curriculum, Lgr-11, emphasizes the importance of incorporating this into all school subjects. The special teacher education programme has raised the awareness concerning the importance of including the students and that learning is achieved in an interactive setting.

Edward Said's book Orientalism (1978) is the most important reference point in the post-colonial theory and describes how the West is dominant over the Orient. There is a clear distinction between "us" and "the other" and the purpose of this study is that, from a postcolonial perspective, focusing on Said's theoretical concepts "the other" and "discourse", examining how two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds living in the same place, are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes. My questions to answer this are; ?what are the concepts of "the other" and "discourse" and is it possible to use these concepts to examine how foreign-born people are looking at themselves, at other foreign-born and native Swedes in a specific location??, ?who is "the other" in a place where there are almost as many native Swedes as foreign-born??, and ?how do these two foreign-born people with ethnic backgrounds perceive Norrliden as a place and what effect has that place had on their identity?? I have used a post-colonial philosophical ground and a qualitative approach, focusing on two different interviews with two men, living in Norrliden. In Norrliden almost 50% of the inhabitants are foreign-born were both of the interview-persons are feeling safe and secure.

The purpose of this study has been to analyze the relationship between commercial brands and a subculture, with a focus on a number of elements of success. These elements could be in the nature of sale stats as well as that of influence within the subculture. All of this within the context of the snowboard culture. In accossiation to this we have formulated a question of study:What marks brands which gains influence within a subculture in addittion to becoming an important factor in the self-expression process of the cultural members?In this study, we have practised a qualitative method based on six (6) independant interviews with participants, active within the snowboard culture as well as one outside marketing executive and one ethnological reseracher.

In the early 1860´s, the author and opinion former Fredrika Bremer made a large donation of books to Högre lärarinneseminariet, which is the first governmental institute for higher education of women in Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to describe the collection of donated books as well as to extract information regarding Bremer's international network of contacts, her views on women's education and her relation to Högre lärarinneseminariet. Furthermore, the aim is to highlight the unique relationship between Fredrika Bremer's private collection of the books and the library of Högre lärarinneseminariet from a gender perspective. A handwritten list of the 321 titles constitutin the donation has been preserved in the seminar archive and three quarters of the books have been re-discovered in a bookcase at Årsta castle. The donation is characterized by its double Origin as stamps and personal dedications remain as permanent traces in the books.

This study is aimed to increase the knowledge about the Swedish immigration authorities? assessment of the asylum applications based on particularly distressing circumstances, submitted by disabled undocumented migrants. Making an attempt to explain the reasons of asylum-seekers? health deterioration during the asylum process, this study determines the factors in migration authorities proceedings affecting such deterioration. Documents in five personal files concerning six disabled asylum-seekers, whose applications were declined, were studied by applying two observational methods: content analysis of the documents in the personal files and non-participant observations made during receptions of undocumented migrants at the Swedish Asylum Committee.

This essay focuses on the elderly and their religious beliefs and is based on the Origin idea of a secular Sweden, but where immigration has been the source of additional various religious affiliations. This study intends to nuance the problems that previous researchers focused on when doing research on immigration, by interviewing staff members of nursing homes in immigrant dense areas, especially Malmoe, Gothenburg and Stockholm.The aim is to investigate how the allocation of residents, with different religious than Protestant Christians, is distributed at nursing homes and to see if there is a need for adjustments. Additionally, the thesis about immigrants and immigrants' identity and attitudes to Swedish society is discussed with John Berry´s acculturation theories and strategies.The results show that the majority of the nursing homes have residents with different religious affiliations and that some practical adjustments have been done, but it also shows that nursing homes have changed to the extent that they have adapted to a secular society. Ignorance and prejudice contribute to the problem in terms of seeing all residents as individuals and at the same time ensuring adaption according to all their needs, which is exemplified in the solutions made by using multi-cultural staff members and specialized departments. The relationship between nursing homes and the Swedish church continues but the role of the church service has changed.

Title: Defending one's Origin ? a musical journey to Transylvania.A journey to the Transylvanian part of Romania was pursued with the intent to investigate the cultural aspects of the historically and politically rooted set of relations between the Hungarian peaking minority and the majority of the population, the Romanian speaking group. Music pedagogical ambitions within the two cultures were used as reflections of these phenomena. In trying to shed light on my questions and extract the relations between the dominating and the dominated in this specific cultural and social context I have used the central themes of Bourdieu ? capital, habitus and field.

This survey is a text analysis of 4 teaching books during a ten years period in Social studies from a multicultural and intercultural perspective. Taking as a starting point that society and the school in today?s Sweden are multicultural and in need of more intercultural teaching I explore teaching books in social science to se how they relate to Sweden as a multicultural society and their way of relating to intercultural teachings and compare them. The questions asked are: How do the different books describe the multicultural society in Sweden? What kind of intercultural tools are found in the books? And are there any similarities or differences among these books? The theories used as a starting point are reformulated by the author after theories of Von Wright and Lahdenperä to fit in to the context of a text analysis of teaching books and the method used is a content analysis with its purpose of describing how the books are constructed.

This essay presents and discusses a study that was performed in a multicultural school, where the teachers, since August 2004, have obtained internal training in how to work with language development. The objective with this essay is to investigate how the connection between language development and the development of knowledge can be understood and apprehended by teachers working in this school, and furthermore, to show how a language developing way of work can be accomplished in the teachers daily work.Moreover, I have studied which objectives and strategies, the three language developers in charge of the training of the teachers, have concerning this work, furthermore I have looked into if these objectives and strategies differ from what the teachers understand and practically perform.Pauline Gibbons book, Stärk språket, stärk lärandet (2006), has become a base for this school?s work when it comes to language development. Gibbons presents theories and practical exercises which have their Origin from Vygotskij, Halliday and Cummins. Their theories have also become my theoretical base in this study.I have made qualitative interviews with four teachers working in this school, and with one of the language developers.