The European Union is struggling to maintain democracy and tries to increase the participation among the citizens in Europe. The European Citizens? Initiative, ECI, is a platform established by the European Commission to allow citizens to propose new legislation. ?Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!? is the first ECI that has met the requirements.

Öland?s Business Office is on the verge of developing a strategy for the island?s future tourism. Before any work with developing Öland can be carried out, it is essential to gain an understanding of how the place is perceived today.The purpose of this essay is to study the island?s current image and make recommendations for how the place brand could be developed.The methods used are literature studies and qualitative group interviews. The participants have been inhabitants of Öland and returning visitors from the Kalmar region.

In 1984 the Swedish government introduced a special law which gave tax benefits to foreign researchers who for a limited time was engaged in research or development work in Sweden. The purpose was to facilitate for companies to recruit skilled employees from outside of Sweden and to make Sweden more attractive to this important group of researchers and to strengthen the Swedish competitiveness. In 2001 the law for foreign researchers was reformed to include foreign experts, researchers, managers and other key personnel. In Sweden called ?expert tax?.As a result of this; problem with the predictability of who may have the potential to apply for the expert tax benefits was developed.

Over-investors ? a study of advanced language pupils in the upper secondary school.  The thesis examines the advanced study of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) from a sociological point of view, inspired by Bourdieu.  Founded in official statistics and a specially designed survey its main findings can be said to be that it is mainly pupils with a high amount of acquired educational capital from higher social backgrounds who avail themselves of this opportunity, predominantly girls. The amount of inherited language and transnational capital in the family seems to be of particular importance for the pupils? choice of advanced language studies. French, German and Spanish are the predominant languages of study.

ABSTRACTBackground: People with colorectal cancer undergoing rectum amputation get a permanent colostomy, which affects the social life. It may be valuable for health care what these people experience living with colostomy in order to provide the greatest possible support. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe how people who received a colostomy experience their daily lives and the support they have received from the health services.Method: Qualitative interview study with six people, with a descriptive phenomenological approach.Results: The analysis of the interviews about how it's like to live with a colostomy resulted in three themes: 1) Living with a colostomy gives an uncertainty that affect the social life, 2) Physical and psychological impact of getting a colostomy and 3) Support for health care and relatives.Conclusion: Subjects had a positive attitude towards life, which contributed to that they could adjust to living with a colostomy and feel a meaningfulness of life. The study shows that all the interviewed people overall were satisfied with the information provided by the healthcare personnel. It was good with both oral and written information and very appreciated with repeated information. One aspect that could be improved was the information given aboute the closure of anus during surgery and the following complications.

AbstractThis study aims to describe and analyze how the 15 municipalities of Västerbotten County consider regional targets of development in their comprehensive plans. The study also investigate if there´s any need of improvements for the consideration of regional targets in comprehensive planning.This paper is based on studies of comprehensive plans in Västerbotten County and on three interviews with employers of different municipalities in the county. An thematic analysis were used to analyze documents and interviews.The result shows that a new comprehensive plan generally takes more consideration to regional targets of development than older plans. The consideration varies a lot between the municipalities of Västerbotten County and it can be explained by many reasons. The informant?s points out that lack of resources- and competence plus a deficient dialog between municipalities and regional organizations are the mainly causes.Keywords; regional development, comprehensive planning, strategy for regional development, regional development program, land-use planning.

Background: In recent research literature, some researchers mean that companies in fast changing markets have to act proactively while others find that companies have to adapt to conditions and to react. This makes it interesting to study how software companies act strategically and also to study to what extent a flexible organisation is required by companies who proact and by those who react. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is the study how different types of software companies act strategically and what this requires of the company in terms of flexibility. Delimitation: The study treats only Swedish software companies with more than ten employees. Proceed of the Study: Representatives from four case companies as well as a consultant have been interviewed.

The aim of this study is to investigate and analyze the potential effects on a number of social workers that may arise from listening to stories of domestic violence, and how these social workers deal with the potential effects. The study is based on qualitative interviews with seven social workers that work with domestic violence. The theoretical perspective that we used was the theory of coping. The results of this study have indicated that the respondents have been affected of listening to the stories of domestic violence. Examples of different impacts that the work has had on some of the social workers is that they avoid movies and/or books with elements of violence, they are more aware of the domestic violence in the surroundings and there has also been changes in their cognitive schemas.

In motion ?a traffic program for Nacka is the result of a survey of the traffic system and transportation situation in Nacka and suggests possible development opportunities. A new traffic strategy will be developed in the municipality of Nacka the coming years, which is the reason for this study: to map the current situation, identify strengths and weaknesses, needs and opportunities. This program suggests possible development opportunities and gives an historical overview of the transportation system, the current situation and an analysis of different transportation modes. A mapping of other municipalities? traffic strategies or programs have been done and included into the program as well as a prognosis for the coming years in the municipality.

Train travel has increased in Sweden, and future increase of train transports putdemands on the already vastly exploited railroad net. The increased need of capacitycan be seen in the ongoing and planned expansions of the railway track. One part ofthe railroad infrastructure which is affected by an increase of travellers is the design ofthe station platform. Since the platform is the place where the traveller meets thetrain, dangerous situations can occur in this environment. A number of studies focuson single safety risks, albeit there is no research to show the full picture of safety inthe platform environment.This study aims to treat and put together a compilation of risks for the traveller in theplatform environment in the form of a checklist, which can be used as support inplanning and design of a safer platform environment for existing or planned platforms.The thesis has, through case studies of five ongoing projects within the NationalRailroad Administration (Banverket), interviews with train company personnel andinternational railroad administrators, identified and treated safety (and security) risksin the platform environment.The conclusion of the study is that the relations between the traveller, the physicalplatform environment and the project organisation are important to explore andexploit when designing effective safety measures.

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine library users experience encountering exposed literature. Shops and stores expose the products they most of all want to sell, a kind of marketing strategy that influences our inclination to buy. By conducting a quantitative study, at two minor public libraries, and using theories from the marketing area this thesis intended to investigate the subject further. Eighty library visitors, between age 10 and XX filled out a questionnaire asking how the users experience or register exposed literature and what makes users borrow or not borrow exposed literature. The respondents find exposed literature helpful in directing them to new interesting suggestions of books they otherwise wouldn?t have borrowed.

The environmental issues have during the last decenniums gained an increased role in both the political arena and in the market economy. The society is therefore more knowledgeable about the environment and our impact on it. Through this enlightened state, stakeholders tend to put pressure on the organizations of today. They, more or less willingly, incorporate this responsibility to be a part of their business. Entrepreneurs in the environmental area have seen this rising market as an opportunity to gain market shares and other positive outcomes.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how patients with acute illness experience their given care in the emergency department. Method: A literature review of ten studies where differences and similarities were analyzed. These studies had been published between the years of 2000 and 2011. Results: The analysis showed a lack of sufficient care concerning patients? subjective experiences.

ABSTRACTOur work deals with antisocial behavior among elementary school students between 7 and 16years in the school environment. The aim of our study was to examine how school personnelare experiencing antisocial behavior among students from a gender perspective. We were alsointerested to find out what the school's staff has of the experience of the differences andsimilarities between girls 'and boys' antisocial behavior. We used gender theory, when weanalyzed our individual responses to interview questions. We made six qualitative interviewswith low-and high school teachers, assistant principals, counselors and special educationteachers training in Kalmar County.