The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the environmental scanning by the employees and politicians at the central administration at the County Council of Kalmar län. The background of the study is the closing of the administration library in January 2003, which gave more tasks to the hospital libraries of the County Council.The main questions of this study concerns the information needs of the employees and politicians, what electronic sources they prefer to use to satisfy those needs and if they are experiencing a need for more support and help, from a librarian or by the development of a common catalogue of hyperlinks. All 104 persons in the population were asked to answer a questionnaire on the Intranet. The task was performed by 60 persons.

The use of marketing research panels are a more and more frequently used source of information for studies within many different branches. The purpose of this report is to investigate the demographic composition of panels and compare it with the population of Sweden, a possible change in behaviour of respondents, and if the source of recruitment is the cause of possible differences in study results. The study was commissioned by Norstats Linkoping office. Sources for the data material include Norstat?s recruitment process and their two main panels with different recruitment sources.

Reptiles are animals than have been neglected in the research for all times. Some people have the opinion that these animals have fewer needs and demand less from their caretakers. The Aldabra Giant Tortoise lives on the Aldabra atoll outside the coast of Tanzania. The Aldabra tortoise population has varied throughout the years, but today the population is around 100.000 animals. The purpose of this study was to analyze the enclosure utilization of two Aldabra tortoises, a male and a female, at Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna, Sweden.

The world?s population reached more than 6.9 billion people in July 2011. It is expected that the population growth during the next 40 years will take place mostly in low-income countries and the population increase will be 2.3 billion people during 2011-2050. A rapid urbanization is also expected to result in 57.7 per cent of Africa?s population living in urban areas in 2050.

Few scientific studies have studied the subject of longevity among horses over a longer period of time. The knowledge about the Swedish riding school horse population concerning injuries and diseases is insufficient. Generally speaking, riding school horses in Sweden have a more undiversified way to work and work more hours in the arena compared to privately owned horses that have more variety in their possible use. Statistical data from the insurance company Agria have shown that horses in riding schools and education facilities have 22 % higher risk to use their veterinary insurance and 79 % higher risk to be put down and use their life insurance, compared to horses in private care. To create an increased understanding for longevity is it important to have knowledge about the different causes of culling. The aim with this study is to increase the knowledge and enable problem solving within the subject of longevity, median length of life and causes of death.

In schools, misconceptions about genetics can arise due to several factors, and the consequences of these misunderstandings can be significant. Lack of education can play a central role in the spread of misinformation about genetics. When teachers lack sufficient knowledge or do not have access to up-to-date resources, they risk inadvertently conveying inaccuracies to students. Additionally, students own preconceived notions and misinterpretations can be reinforced through interaction with their peers, creating a vicious cycle of misinformation. In this study, various misconceptions within genetics education have been identified and analyzed, while different strategies to prevent these misconceptions have been examined. The study revealed that the two most common misconceptions are the confusion between "genes" and "DNA" and the simplified perception of genetic determinism.

Genom att samarbeta med andra aktörer på marknaden kan företagen gemensamt bli mer effektiva och konkurrenskraftiga i syfte att tillsammans uppfylla kundernas mer komplexa och specifika önskemål genom att erbjuda helhetslösningar. Detta ligger till grund för den växande nätverksbildning som många företag insett betydelsen av. Organiserade samverkansnätverk är en typ av företagsnätverk som består av ett antal små eller medelstora medlemsföretag. Medlemsföretagen verkar på en begränsad geografisk yta och målet med nätverket är att uppnå specifika affärsresultat. Syftet med denna uppsats var att identifiera en population av organiserade samverkansnätverk i Sverige samt undersöka hur styrgruppens sammansättning kan påverka nätverkets framgång.

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is since its recent establishment and increasing density a controversial species in Sweden. But the attitudes towards the wild boar are poorly documented so far. To improve this knowledge, a questionnaire was sent out to chosen people (n=400) connected to the management and/or land use activities. The study got 162 replies (reply frequency 40,5%) and the results show varying attitude trends among organizations and individuals, with some aspects coherent within groups and some not. Farmers and their organization showed the most negative attitudes towards wild boars, which was expected due to the practical and economic problems they suffer from this species. People involved with forestry were more positive to wild boars, probably because the species does not affect forest growth etc severely, and may even promote plant establishment by the rooting.

This study examined some contradictive results in a report from the Swedish board of Integration. The contradiction was concerning the Swedish populations dismissive judgments of experience a shared ground of values between the Swedish society and those witch are generally held within Islam. These dismissive judgments were given at the same time as the population reported to have a lacking knowledge of Islam in general. To test for psychological aspects of these contradictions, the analysis was based on the theoretical ground of Social Identity Theory and Theory of Attributions. The study used an existing survey that examines people´s estimations of their own and other members of society´s fulfilling of democratic values.

During 2012, the employer of this essay carried out a telephone survey with 18000 participants and a web panel survey with 708 participants. Those who partook in the telephone survey were given a choice to join the web panel. The purpose of this work is to study the participants of the telephone survey and see if they reflect the Swedish population with regards to several socio-demographic factors. Also, we intend to investigate if the propensity to join the web panel differs for participants of the telephone survey with regards to various socio-demographic affiliations. It is also of interest to study if the response pattern is different for participants of the telephone survey that would like to join the web panel and those who reject.

The amount of electricity is limited in Namibia and the large distance between towns andvillages complicates the energy supply in the country. Therefore an alternative way to provideaccess to appropriate energy technologies is needed. The Government of the Republic ofNamibia (GRN) has adopted an approach of helping off-grid households by establishing EnergyShops in each region in Namibia and these shops are going to sell basic renewable energy andenergy efficient products. The Renewable Energy Efficiency Institute in Namibia (REEEI), theinitiator of this thesis, is coordinating the establishment of these Energy Shops.The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the needs of energy products for the Namibianpopulation and develop an assessment method for the Energy Shop in how to select appropriateenergy products already on the world market. The purpose was also to develop a method forchoosing an Energy Shop.

I detta tvärvetenskapliga arbete studeras från den matematiska sidan tre klassiska populationsmodeller: Malthus tillväxtmodell, Verhulsts logistiska modell och Lotka-Volterras jägarebytesmodell. De klassiska modellerna jämförs med stokastiska. De stokastiska modeller som studeras är födelsedödsprocesser och deras diffusionsapproximation. Jämförelse görs med medelvärdesbildade simuleringar.Det krävs många simuleringar för att kunna genomföra jämförelserna. Dessa simuleringar måste utföras i datormiljö och det är här den datalogiska aspekten av arbetet kommer in.

This paper presents why and how teachers use newspaper articles in the classroom when they educate their pupils in chemistry, biology and nature science. All the teachers have worked over 20 years and are, when interviewed, at a Swedish gymnasium in Dalarna. I also have, in a small study, interviewed some of their pupils to get their view about teachers using news paper articles during lessons.The teacher?s use of newspaper articles in the classroom can be divided in different ways. They can use the articles to illustrate up to date links to everyday life.

Under 2005 och 2008 inventerades förekomsten av större vattensalamander(Triturus cristatus) i Gävleborgs län. Ett till synes isolerat fynd gjordes väster om Hofors. Inventeringarna utfördes med flaskfällor och visuell observation och lokaler valdes via kartblad enligt kriterier på vattenytans areal, rörelse och distans till väg. Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka huruvida den observerade isoleringen var faktisk eller endast ett resultat av den använda inventeringsmetodiken. Detta arbete baserades på en radie kring en känd population där radien baserades på spridningsdistans, mognadsålder samt tid sedan den förra studien. Lokaler valdes sedan ut inom radien med krav på areal vattenyta och förekomsten av stillastående vatten varpå inventeringar utfördes med flaskfällor.

Obesity and overweight are today classified as one of the largest epidemics in the Western world and is threaten a large part of the population. As a reaction to this a major health trend has emerged in recent decades. Every day consumers are exposed to information from the media about what is healthy or unhealthy to eat and the recommendations change frequently.There is great interest in healthy food on the Swedish food market, but still healthy foods only represents a small proportion of the total food sales. The essay examines the gap between the current and potential demand for healthy food and if it can be explained by any of the following factors: lack of information, price, taste or cognitive behavioral.To study these questions a quantitative method have been used and 213 questionnaires were collected. The intention is to draw general conclusions about the entire population.