?During the past few years cooperation between the EU member states has expanded considerably in areas such as justice and homeland affairs. International cooperation in criminal justice has become more important as borders between EU countries has been lifted and because of this, various criminal groups have also had more opportunities to commit crimes cross borders. The Italian mafia groups in particularly have been operating in almost every country in Europe and have exploited the possibilities offered by the EU. The increase of organized crime in Europe has created a demand for EU to step up their actions against the organized crime.The purpose of this essay is to investigate exactly how the significant EU is has been in battling organized crime in Italy.

In modern leadership research, leadership is often viewed as a social construction, and under this paradigm various researchers let the media play a central role in constructing leadership. Meanwhile, the question of how the media actors do this is left unanswered. We explore the question of how and why the media construct leadership, from the vantage point of the media actors themselves, and the conditions they work under. Different mechanisms for media construction of leadership are identified in previous research. Through interviews with business journalists at Veckans Affärer, we find recognition for some of the explanatory mechanisms: namely that personification of a CEO facilitates the work of journalists (and sells papers), that personal drama captures reader demand, and that the CEO of a listed company consciously cultivates his or her personal parallel self.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex, often lifelong allergic disease affecting around 10 % of both dogs and humans. The hallmark symptom is severe pruritus, causing a lowered quality of life. Mast cells (MCs) are known to play an important part of the immunopathogenesis, promoting a faulty T helper cell type 2 (Th-2) response which follows by a production of specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies towards environmental allergens (Ag). To further investigate the role of MCs and its mediators in the progression of AD, a low-calcemic vitamin D3 analog (MC903) was used to induce AD-like symptoms locally on the ears of two different knock-out (KO) mouse strains. The first strain was Wsh-/- mice deficient in MCs.

In this bachelor's thesis, we investigate the Swedish folk high school?s role in neoliberal society, which is analyzed through the lens of Norman Fairclough's critical discourse theory as well as Erving Goffman's theory of social deviants. The focus of our study has been participants in creative education, such as art, theater and creative writing. Our findings include that participants at folk high schools find great value in their education, both creatively and personally. They note that they have experienced a large amount of personal growth, regarding both openness towards others and higher confidence and their own abilities and identity.

Computer based information systems play an important role in modern military combat vehicles. The crew needs to be able to quickly get information about both the vehicle and its outer surroundings in order to quickly make the correct decisions. In this report, we describe the development of a prototype new information system for the BvS10 vehicle, manufactured by BAE System Hägglunds AB in Örnsköldsvik.An important aspect of the system is the time it takes from the point that the information is generated by the vehicle sensors until it is presented to the user. The system must be able to ensure that it never displays information that is out of date. Thus, it is important to create a layer and component based architecture for the solution, making it possible to control, in detail, the information?s age as it moves through the system.

The preschool constitutes a big part of many children's everyday existence. Its contents are therefore of great importance and the environment deserves a well thoughtout design. In this study, surveys in field and literature have resulted in conclusions around how plants can be used in children's play environments, in order to contribute to the experiencerelated values. The aim is to present conclusions to lean on when drawing up designproposals for new playgrounds, especially where the natural conditions are not so favorable. The first question that is responded to is how plants can be used in order to enrich the children's play environments.

abstractThe aim of this essay is to try to convince the reader that relativism and postmodernism (the latter implying the former, but not the other way around) can be reasonable methods for the social sciences, rather than the irresponsible play of ?extremes? theories of this kind sometimes are made out to be.The intention is to do this by way of the later Wittgenstein, the philosophy of whom is the foundation for what is termed relativism and postmodernism in this essay (definitions of a kind that are here claimed to be missing from the discourse of the social sciences). The essay also contains an empirical presentation/analysis, displaying the Wittgensteinian theory through an aspect of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and -60s..

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how love relationship affects the identity and attitude towards school of study motivated girls in 17-18 years of age with the subsidiary purpose to get anidea of how the gender order is maintained in the relationship.The study is based on theories of gender theory and identity theory, which concerns gender as aresult of actions and how the gender order is maintained. The identity theory is based as a choice toconvey different roles.The study is founded on qualitative research interviews with six different girls, where the focus wasto learn about their own experiences of how the love relationship affects them.The results were interpreted through a hermeneutic analysis.The results show that the love relationship affect informants' identity on self-perception, what roles they convey and the attitude towards school. It turned out that the informants' attitude towards school was dependent on their boyfriend´s attitude towards school.The results also show that girls are highly involved in the process of maintaining the gender order in which they choose to manage their time according to their boyfriend's time, and has the role of the engaging and emotional in the relationship..

Authors: Phia Bergdahl & Karin TydénTitle: This is the era of the personal brand ? a study about the role of a personal brand in a professional context in modern societyLevel: BA Thesis in Media and Communication StudiesLocation: Linnaeus UniversityLanguage: SwedishNumber of pages: 54Background In pursuit of being unique and stand out, it has become fashionable to market yourself as a personal brand. According to some experts on the subject, this has become a necessity for survival in the tough competition about the jobs and the customers. With Internet and social media as a natural element in our society, we also have to relate to these channels when it comes to communicating ourselves.Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of the personal brand in a professional context in modern society and to explore Internet involvement in communicating the brand.TheoriesWe have used Bauman?s theory of ?consumer society?, how we live in a society where we are both the consumers and the goods consumed. We have also used Castells?s theory of "network society" and how its growth is changing our culture.

This analysis explores the psychosocial aspects in relationship to the occupational role as a correctional officer in Sweden. Historically prisons are hierarchically structured with a military organisation used as the basis for a role model. This military type structured organisation is designed to keep the prisoners under constant observation, thus providing direct authority and control by the prison guards over the prison inmates. Data obtained from investigations conducted by the Swedish Government indicate a direct link between the prisoners's living conditions and the prison employee's work duties and environment. The data strongly suggests that the work needs of prison guards have significant priority over the general work conditions of inmates, thus showing that the status for the occupational role was relatively low.

Many scientists agree that phytoestrogens could have an effect on the reproduction of an animal. The question is now why and what mechanisms that play an important role. This paper has been focusing on the estrus behavior of gilts by use of a behavioral study. Some of the gilts were given additional feed with the phytoestrogen genistein which commonly occurs in the feed as a part of soybean products. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for progesterone and estradiol concentrations.

This thesis aims to explore the use of costumed interpreters at museums. Firstly the thesis examines how extensivethe use of historical costumes is in Sweden, along with some international comparisons. Later on the differentways that the clothes are used is examined, and the costume as a resource for learning is discussed. In the lastpart of the thesis the ?function? of the costume is examined.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the archivist's professional role in public authorities and discuss if, and in what way, the profession is effected by the new swedish process oriented archival description system. The study focuses on swedish authorities and does not make any international comparisons with other institutions. Neither does it investigate archivists workingin the private sector, but centers on public institutions.The survey is performed in five swedish public authorities, using interviews and observations. Grounded theory is used as a method initially in the purpose of keeping an open mark towards the object of study. The initial results led on to questions about how well the archivists perceived that communication within the authorities served, and how this in turn prepossessed their work situation and the professional roles in which they found themselves.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate hospital librarians understanding of their professional role in working with children. Two different aspects of the professional role were focused on; professional knowledge and ethics. The following research questions were posed: - How do hospital librarians experience their professional role in working with children and young people? - What is regarded as professional knowledge content for hospital librarians in working with children and young people? - How do hospital librarians view ethical aspects in working with children and young people? The issues have been addressed through qualitative interviews with seven hospital librarians. We have used phenomenography which is both a set of theoretical assumptions and a methodology.

AbstractDoes Geography Matter? A Study of the Bologna Process from a Policy Transfer Perspective.Essay in Political Science (D-level) at Karlstad?s University by Beatrice Högå, Spring 2007Tutor: Susan MartonThe purpose of this essay is to generally see how theories of policy transfer can help us to better understand the process through which the Bologna Process is being spread throughout Europe, and to specially see if geographic placement, i.e. in the heart of Europe, plays a role in how well and how fast the Bologna Process is implemented.To be able to answer the purpose, I have used Evans and Davies theoretical model on policy transfer network to describe the Bologna Process. Furthermore, Sweden and France are the countries being examined when they differ on the independent variable. From there, I have applied an analytical tool, namely process tracing, to examine whether there are differences in the two countries? work with the implementation of the Bologna Process.I have designed six specific research questions:Have France performed more extensive work than Sweden when it comes to implement the two-cycle system?Have France performed this work earlier?Have France performed more extensive work than Sweden when it comes to recognize awards and periods of study?Have France performed this work earlier?Have France performed more extensive work than Sweden when it comes to quality assurance?Have France performed this work earlier?After applying the analytical tool to be able to answers these research questions, the answer to the general question Does geographic placement, i.e.