Whether use of affirmative action can be justified is an ethical dilemma that hasbeen intensely debated. The question raises several conflict dimensions. Thepurpose of this thesis is to separate different arguments of the debate and classifywhich principles they are built upon. To accomplish this, an analytical instrumentis created where three different perspectives of equality, and deontology versusconsequentialism, are compared. A third conflict dimension, individual versusgroup ethical principles, is also considered.

The study is quantitative and is about working men and women?s view of male and female leadership. The intention of the study is to see if the men and women have a different Perception of male and female leadership and also if they have different personality types. The method used was a survey where the sample is 80 participants, 31 men and 49 women from four different companies. Previous research shows that the Perception of male and female leadership can be different, and that the reason can be prejudices and beliefs.

Due to the growing population in Stockholm, some of the urban green areas are beingsubjected to exploitation. Hammarbyskogen is an urban forest in the south of Stockholm andis an example of a green area that is planned to be transformed into an urban environment.This paper investigates key qualities and values of an urban forest of Hammarbyskogenvalued by local inhabitants of the neighbourhoods of Hammarbyhöjden and Björkhagen in thesouth of Stockholm. In addition to that, the study seeks to investigate people?s Perception ofthe planned development of the forest as well as investigate how these Perceptions andqualities are being incorporated into the process of neighbourhood development.Using text analysis, interviews and discussion forums, findings have been made showing thatthe local inhabitants value the urban forest mostly for its ecological and recreational qualities.Regarding Perception of the change, people are either positive or negative to the developmentwhich can be explained by people?s experienced sense of place and place attachment of thearea and the forest itself. The study has also shown that the urban planners rely on localinhabitants? view, as well as on expert knowledge during the process of planning.The results of the study contributes to a better understanding of why and for what purposesurban forests are important for the city dwellers..

Goods that children come in contact with on a daily basis for example toys, electronics, textiles, household items, have attracted an increased attention in recent years because of a common occurrence of residues of potentially hazardous chemical substances. Some municipalities in Stockholm have developed plans for managing chemical risks and work systematically to phase out products containing hazardous substances. This thesis aims to contribute to an improved knowledge base for any future work with non-toxic nursery schools in Haninge. The study's focus is on the challenges encountered by conditions and problems of preschool personnel to manage chemical risks in early childhood environments. Primary data was collected through a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with both the preschool staff and practitioners working in the central organization of the municipality.

Advertisers of today are facing a great challenge in a landscape where it becomes even more difficult to break through the clutter and convince consumers to buy their products. In order to succeed, they need to come up with new ways of communicating with their customers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if micro-blogging could be considered an effective media choice in order to enhance the Perception of brand associations and traditional communication effects. The subject is of interest as brands are putting increasingly more resources into this communication channel. However, at the current date the marketing effects of micro-blogging is unexplored in academic research.

This study explores how consumers' attitudes and intentions-to-buy towards an atypical product can be influenced by the presentation of the product and consumers shopping goals. Moreover, another product, which was shown together with the atypical piece, was analyzed in order to investigate context effects. The aim of the study is to provide insights into a rather unexplored subject and help retailers in presenting their assortment in a way which will create a better Perception and intention-to-buy towards the assortment. The study was conducted with the help of two studies, the first one aimed to find an atypical item and to see how attitudes could be affected by differences in presentation by comparing it with a typical item within the same category. The second study used the identified atypical piece in order to see the how attitude and intention-to-buy could be altered by presentation and consumer shopping goals.

This thesis deals with the characterization of Japan and Japanese people by Swedish travelers during the Meiji period. It seeks to answer what aspects of Japanese people two Swedish travelers chose to highlight, and how these aspects were presented in their travelogues. This thesis also has a second aim. By applying Edward Said?s theory of orientalism, it wants to answer if Swedish travelogues were influenced by western 19th century ideas of colonialism and imperialism.

Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka huruvida betraktaren kan urskilja en konstnärs budskap i ett specifikt verk. Det hävdas att vi baserar våra tolkningar på vad vi till exempel har för utbildning och vad våra tidigare erfarenheter är. Det blir ett problem då man måste ställa frågan: "Kan någon annan än konstnären förstå konstnärens budskap?"Arbetet berör även vårt fysiska synsinne, vår Perception och bildsemiotik. Bildsemiotik är läran om bilder, bilder som tecken och betydelse.

Studier som berör ämnet hur fysisk aktivitet påverkar det psykiska välbefinnandet hos äldre är något som berör alla. Fysisk aktivitet har i tidigare forskning visat sig påverka båda den fysiska och psykiska hälsan positivt. Mycket forskning är gjord på området, dock är de äldre underrepresenterade som målgrupp inom området. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka i vilken utsträckning fysisk aktivitet påverkar det psykiska välbefinnandet, med inriktning självkänsla och fysisk självuppfattning, hos äldre. Undersökningen innefattade en experimentell undersökningsmetod med en randominiserad, kontrollerad design.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the Perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their Perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

It is now increasingly common for organisations to work actively with HR issues. Furthermore, it is a constant top priority for organisations to remain profitable. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether so called soft HR values, as manager?s communication skills, has an actual impact on hard values in terms of costs for the organisation. Leadership is largely characterised by emotional communication, which together with personnel costs were the main focus of the research.

Because of the globalization of society, English as a foreign language (EFL) has become easier to access through internet and outside school English activities, so called ?extramural English activities? (EEA). Previous research indicates a positive relation between pupils? EFL vocabulary development and EEA (Sundqvist, 2009). This development may influence teachers? lesson planning, because of pupils? wide span of interests and the resulting different levels of EFL vocabulary.

The aim of my thesis was to examine if educators need to be critical of what they read to the children from a gender perspective. I examined how picture books depict gender and if the books enhances or breaks Perception of gender roles. I also examined educator?s Perception of gender and if they think picture books can affect children?s Perceptions of gender, but also what educators think about gender equality through picture books. The study is based on analysis of five picture books and interview with five educators.The results of analyzes showed that picture books are stereotyped and enhances Perceptions of gender roles.

AimThe aim of this study is to examine students' previous experiences of stay in the nature and their experiences of nature in the context of teaching situations in friluftsliv at GIH. It also aims to elucidate how the teaching of friluftsliv at GIH affects their former interpretation about nature. The questions of the study are: What past experiences of stay in the nature elucidate GIH-students? Have the students approach to nature changed according to the education? If yes ? how? What affects students' Perception of nature? MethodTo answer the questions, a quantitative approach (questionnaire survey) and qualitative methods (interview study) was used. The qualitative method is based on phenomenology and hermeneutics.

Background: Type 2-diabetes is now a public health problem, which constitutes 85-90 percent of diabetes care. The district nurse´s role in treating a diabetic (/person with diabetes) does not only comprise pure medical treatment but also support, advice and training to the individual. In our profession as nurses, we have found that medical knowledge in patients with Typ 2-diabetes is not always enough to obtain changes in lifestyles.Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the illness Perceptions in patients with Type 2-diabetes and their impact on health behavior.Method: This qualitative study used grounded theory as a method. Results: The informants described in the interviews, their Perceptions of living with Type 2-diabetes. The analysis revealed the main category periodic health behavior built up on and related to five categories developed in data: preventive health awareness, guilt, confidence in medical treatment, motivational problems and periods of insight.Conclusion: This study contributes to understanding of patients with Type 2 - diabetes their beliefs about illness and how it affects everyday lives.Keywords: Believes, District nurses, Groundey Theory, Illness Perception, Type 2-diabetes.