Att bevarandet av biologisk mångfald är en grundpelare för att nå en hållbar utveckling enades världens länder om i Konventionen om biologisk mångfald (CBD) som upprättades under toppmötet i Rio de Janeiro 1992. I konventionen förespråkas den s.k. ekosystemansatsen (EA), vilket är en strategi som innebär en helhetssyn på ekosystem. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka i vilken grad EA tillämpas på nationell och regional nivå. Frågan är också om EA är en bra utgångspunkt för att upprätthålla biologisk mångfald på landskapsnivå samt vad som kan öka tillämpningen av EA på regional nivå.

Prescribed burning was commonly used for site preparation in Sweden to establish new forests until the 1960?s, when mechanical scarification was introduced. During recent decades the interest in prescribed burnings has increased again, mainly due to certifications of forestry stating that 5% of the regeneration areas should be burned on dry and mesic soils. The objective of the study was to evaluate actual influence of prescribed burning compared to other site preparation on stand stem density, growth parameters and tree damages for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) after direct seeding and planting. The study also attempts to simulate growth until first thinning.

Who runs the development? A comparative study of the construction of residential buildings in Nacka and Södertälje.The aim of this study is to identify actors involved in the initiation and implementation of residential house construction in two Swedish municipalities. This means who is taking initiative for new residential buildings, who affects the planning process, who finances these new buildings and who builds them. By exploring empiric material from the municipalities of Nacka and Södertälje, the above questions will be answered and by referring to pluralism, growth machine theory and regime theory a link to general theories of political science is made. The results found show that the analysed municipalities have quite different possibilities for acting and that these backgrounds are also important for which actors will take initiative for new residential buildings and which actors will be allowed to state their opinion during the planning process.

Foot rot is a severe claw disease which occurs among sheep and goats in most parts of the world, with outbreaks in hot and humid weather. It is a contagious bacterial infection caused by Dichelobacter nodosus in association with Fusobacterium necrophorum. Foot rot has a negative impact on both animal welfare and economy.This thesis presents how Australia, Nepal, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain, Sweden and Uruguay handle foot rot. In the selection of countries the focus was on countries that have control- or eradication programs against foot rot. There are differences in the climate, animal husbandry practices, animal welfare and economic resources in the countries that are presented.

This pilot study examined whether treatment with Vortex Process Technology (VPT) of the irrigation water used on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants had any effect on plant growth. In a block experiment, with two blocks comprising 12 vases containing 1 L water and two tomato plantlets, treatment in which, nutrient solution was based on Vortex-treated water was compared with an control using untreated water. All vases were kept in a static aerated culture system in a daylight chamber for four weeks. The results showed that the effect of the two blocks exceeded the effect of vortex treatment in terms of leaf area and weight of fresh and dry matter. Plant height, stem width and internodal length were significantly different in tomato plants grown in Vortex-processed water compared with the untreated control.

Couch grass (Elymus repens (L.) Gould) is a severe weed in Sweden, and since both the use of herbicides and cultivation should be decreased, it will become increasingly problematic to control couch. The present work is meant to, by literature studies and an experiment, give some answers to the question if cutting and competition can depress the growth of couch. The experiment was carried out in the growing season 2001 at Ultuna, Uppsala, in plastic boxes. The design was three-factorial randomised complete blocks. The factors were plant combination, nitrogen level and cutting strategy.

This paper intends to examine the knowledge challenges in small IT companies which is going through rapid growth. The movement of information and knowledge is a social and very complex process. The challenge for technology is the social as information and knowledge requires. To believe blindly that technology will solve the problem is what many people think. In order to understand how technology can support information and knowledge management one needs to understand what information and knowledge is.

The fast growing economy of India has experienced fundamental structural changes in recentyears. The share of the service sectors output has more than doubled since 1950 and is todayestimated to make up almost 60 percent of India?s total output. In terms of total employmentwe have not yet seen a similar transformation. The observed discrepancy between sectorialshares of employment and output in the service sector raises questions about sustainability.This report aims to investigate the capacity of the Indian service sector in terms ofemployment creation in order to answer the question whether the recent GDP growth withinthe service sector can be considered as ?jobless? or not.

Problem discussion: To be competitive in a changeable environment, as the video surveillance market, in a time when the company and the market grow with almost 40% yearly, the sales organization must be well trimmed and effective. Knowledge about customers’ needs and what makes success are essential parts of the progress. Sales Product Management (Sales PM) is a new group at Axis with the main task to support local sales offices around the world in their work with different sales projects. Because of the number of ongoing projects Sales PM needs to be able to screen among these and focus on those where their help will be most valuable for the company. At the same time they have to know which kind of support their sales offices want and need.

AbstractThis paper aims to examine reading comprehension among Swedish Upper Secondary Schoolstudents who are doing their last school year. My research questions are if the students havesufficient reading comprehension to cope with university studies and higher educationaccording to a comprehension test and if there is a difference between students who studiedSwedish B course or Swedish as a second language B course. Furthermore it involves issuesof differences in results depending on gender and if the second-language students were bornin Sweden or abroad.To get answers to my questions, I let 112 students in my survey carry out the readingcomprehension part of the TISUS test, observed several test sessions, and interviewed 24students who participated in the test. The result shows that most students have difficultieswith the reading comprehension, and probably would find it difficult to study at universitiesor colleges. There are major differences in the results between the Swedish B-students andSwedish as a second language students, but also within these groupings.

Regionalisation has become an increasingly important phenomenon in a globalized world. As models of regional integration, the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are two prominent examples. This thesis seeks to explore through a comparative analysis, the different mechanisms and institutions for handling breaches against fundamental values within the two regional organizations. Inter-linked with the issue of the legal-institutional framework is that of what values the mechanisms are designed to protect. The method used for the analysis is first and foremost that of public international and European law, but the thesis also attempts to give a broader picture of the issues presented.

The aim of this study was to examine sexual behavior, contraceptive use, self-rated health, lifestyle factors and the prevalence of HPV vaccination among last year high school students. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional study which was a substudy of the longitudinal study " Pornography, Youth and Health". Results showed that the majority of students had had sexual intercourse (75 %, n=524) and both performed (67 %, n=479) and received oralsex (70 %, n=498). Forty percent (n=282) of the students had had one night stand, a quarter (n=159) anal sex and 29 (n=202) percent sex with a friend. The contraceptive use increased from the first to the last intercourse while the use of condoms decreased.

This study is mainly critical-theoretic and explores the theoretic jungle of the concept of intersectionality with the use of Post-colonial and Feminist theories. The purpose of the thesis is also to investigate the concept of intersectionality further by looking upon its practical use as theoretic tool. This is performed in a discourse analysis of two programs developed by Swedish Liberal Party autumn of 2005. Another purpose is to discuss the multiculturalist dilemma as well as the phenomenon of a hegemonic western Feminism. One conclusion of this thesis is that the use of intersectionality is not unproblematic.

The first aim of this thesis is to descriptively identify and chart the activities of the strategic intelligence and environmental scanning that take place at the regional collaboration network Regionförbundet Örebro. This identification is essential in reaching the comprehensive and primary aim of the thesis: to discuss, through normative discourse, what the options of improvement are and in which ways systematic operations can be integrating parts in the organization. In order to offer guidance of development from the perspectives of environmental scanning, the question at issue has emanated from activities concerning the present methods of working at Regionförbundet Örebro.During the creation of this thesis, several interviews have been made with people who are regarded to be key roles within the regional collaboration network. An analysis has been made, based on governing documents and answers from the interviews, where possible improvements of the business have been identified. The inferences become parts of a greater potential of amelioration since they are presented as active solutions and proposals that can be directly adaptable to the organization.Our proposals of improvements/ameliorations are constituted by a number of concrete/explicit points such as: a wider public information supply and an introduction of several annual routines and methods..

Problem discussion:To be competitive in a changeable environment, as the video surveillance market, in a time when the company and the market grow with almost 40% yearly, the sales organization must be well trimmed and effective. Knowledge about customers? needs and what makes success are essential parts of the progress. Sales Product Management (Sales PM) is a new group at Axis with the main task to support local sales offices around the world in their work with different sales projects. Because of the number of ongoing projects Sales PM needs to be able to screen among these and focus on those where their help will be most valuable for the company.