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.

This essay discusses people's perception of what is important for their well-being where they live. The main aim has been to find out what factors in the outdoor environments of the city are appreciated and why they are valued positively. A comparison has been made between Uppsala in Sweden and Tarapoto in Peru to see if, and in that case what, differences can be found in the values of people. I chose to carry out a survey study that got a response rate of 57 persons in Tarapoto and 63 in Uppsala. The results show that there are some common basic values, but on the whole the outdoor environments are valued differently in the two cities. In short, the Peruvians value functionality, cleanliness, small distances to family and service, while the Swedes value a central location and short distances to friends apart from functionality and good service opportunities. Conceivable reasons for this might be for example different cultural prerequisits, material standard and climate. .

-------------------------- 4AbstractThis study is a qualitative case study in order to delineate how visible learning processes in the classroom. The study draws its theory from researcher John Hattie's findings about effective teaching. Data collection is taken from a class in grade 2 in a medium-sized Swedish municipality. The result demonstrates how the communication takes place in the classroom based on the teacher's strategies and planning in relation to pupils' interests and their own initiative. Is there a mutual feedback between teachers and students while teaching? From five perspectives, and the definition of what visible learning is all about, the results shows many good examples of excellent teaching.

This surveys hypothesis is based on the notion that all citizens have the right to access information of the municipality they live in. The aim of the study is to examine how residents of Vilhelmina municipality take note of the current information, and also how they would proceed to access information in the future. In order to conceptualise the results these following theories were used: digital divide, digital immigrants, digital native, uses and gratification theory, social capital, communications strategies and two-way communication. The survey is conducted with four focus group interviews and one separate interview with a person working at the municipal office. The focus groups were divided into age categories in order to see the similarities and differences between the groups' media habits and preferences of future communications.

Med en allt mer konkurrensutsatt marknad är det svårt för företagen att nå ut med sina budskap till konsumenterna. Reklam är inget som lockar längre och möjligheterna  att  slippa  dem  blir  bara  fler  och  fler. Ett  relativt  nytt  sätt  att ändå få ut sitt budskap är att förpacka det i redaktionellt material och göra ett TV-  program  av  det  hela,  programming,  det  vill  säga  helt  eller  delvis förfinansierade program..

This thesis examines the ways in which adaptation and vulnerability are framed in national and sectorial policy-documents dealing with expected societal impacts of climate change. By using theories of discourse and ideology, the analysis aims to find and understand important ideas and presuppositions that are explicitly or implicitly expressed in these documents in order to make possible and tangible the institutional production of policy within the potentially far-reaching problematique of climate change adaptation and vulnerability. The analysis shows that there are two main perspectives through which vulnerability and adaptation are framed; one focusing limits to societal robustness; and one contesting the institutional capacity to implement adaptations. The author understands these framings as complementarily optimizing preconceived social and economic relations, something that might, in fact, reduce the response capacity of people..

This study aims to illuminate central aspects of immigrant fathers' experience of fatherhood in Sweden, a subject that has been widely debated but has garnered scant scientific information. Three informants of Middle Eastern background were interviewed. Central aspects that surfaced during the interviews are family and the cultural/religious group as a basis for individual's lives. Thus the informants prioritize the survival of the family and group through boundary strategies, but these boundaries consists of several layers, some of which are flexible..

This thesis deals with non-wanted political parties e.g. right wing populism. How should a democracy handle these opinions? So far these parties have been neglected and not even considered as real parties. By excluding them from the debate and the political arena, media and more established parties have seen them merely as a threat than as democratic parties.

AbstractÖrebro UniversityDepartment of HumanitiesMedia and Communication StudiesBachelor Thesis, Spring 2007Title: Bajen is the name ? The study of the information business of a professional soccer clubBy: Erik Johansson and Markus WelinSupervisor: Göran ErikssonPurposeThe purpose of this essay was to examine how a professional and multinational sport organisation works to present a positive image of it. The object of our study was Hammarby, one of the by media most intensive covered Swedish clubs. We have also investigated the relation between the sport communication strategies and the media.TheoriesWe have used prior research in the areas of sport and media, Sport Management, journalism and Public Relations. We have also applied Public Relations and Marketing theories.MethodWe chose to use the methods of qualitative interviews, and participant observations.

Background: In previous studies on the subject hope it has been revealed that hope is an important condition for the experience of health, quality of life and well-being. In the literature hope is described as a great support in life that is vital for a person's life and for how the person manages to become afflicted with a fatal disease. Within palliative care the 6S: s is a person-centered model for care that is directed towards the promotion of patient´s participation, relief from suffering and enablement of well-being and support of the patient and his or her family members. Aim: To describe how patients find hope in their situation in palliative care, and to examine whether there is an interaction between the different dimensions of 6 S: s model and with patients' experiences of hope. Methods: This degree project is literature study.

This essay is about gender equality in a Swedish upper secondary school. The aim is twofold: to obtain knowledge about feminism, gender equality, boys´ and girls´ situations in schools and gender equality work there; and to find out if government management documents for schools work effectively when it comes to promoting gender equality in schools. There are four research questions: How do teachers interpret what´s said in management documents for schools? What strategies do teachers use to promote gender equality? What opportunities and obstacles do teachers see for promoting gender equality at the specific school? And, finally, do the management documents for the school work effectively when it comes to promoting gender equality?The study has a socialist feminist perspective, which sees gender differences as a result of a mix of biological, historical and social factors. Important theoretical standpoints include gender socialization as an explanation for how girls and boys become women and men.The results of the study points out that teachers interpret management documents differently, and that they find the documents hard to understand.

AbstractLean production has become one common concept within industries to make the work more effective and to meet today?s hard competition. A challenge for Chinese production is the threat from new low cost countries. It will become very difficult to succeed to produce to a lower cost than these countries; this led to that Chinese companies must develop new strategies, according to Lee and Zhou (2000). This will put China in front of new challenges and new strategies can be needed to retain their strong competitive advantages.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate and discuss the current state of game research and its potential usage in didactic situations. The essay is divided in two parts. Part one consists of an attempt to comment preceding contemporary game research and address possible myths that have been established. Part two aims to discuss games narrative capacity and function in education using the theories and terms laid down by Wolfgang Iser and Gérard Genette.Contemporary game research tends to focus on classic retro games, trying to form theories for a general understanding of the media. This is a useful method as long as the purpose of the study is to define how game mechanics and layout are formed.

Game balance can be considerd complex - there are many factors that play a role in the perception of balance. This thesis examines complexity, game theory and intution in an effort to disconver more about the perception of balance. The findings are that tactical and strategical choices that are presented for a player need to be interesting, not to complex and not to obvious. The importance lies in the estimation of the result that the player does when making a choice..

The development of five individual pupils? writing abilities, as reported by six of their teachers, is analysed. The thoughts and reflexions inspired by the everyday interaction between the teacher and the pupil suffering from some kind of reading and writing disability are presented. The purpose is to capture what was unique and characteristic in the measures that triggered a positive response in the pupils. Some of the questions answered in this study are: How does the phenomenon of reading and writing disabilities manifest itself in the classroom, and what are the consequences for the individual pupil of the various pedagogical measures available?One conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that there is no cut-and dried method for working with pupils suffering from reading and writing disabilities.