Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka förändringar i det rurala landskapet i Norrbotten och undersöka och analysera hur människor upplever dessa. Undersökningen är gjord genom en fallstudie med byn Armasjärvi som utgångspunkt. Fallstudien består av tre delar, litteratur- kart- och intervjustudie. Litteraturstudien behandlar Norrbottens och Armasjärvis rurala landskapshistoria som sedan drygt 1000 år är präglad av jordbruk. Litteraturstudien behandlar även människors relation till landskapet, som är unik och beror av bland annat värderingar och erfarenheter, vilket sedan speglar synen på land-skapsförändringar.

In the rural districts of Sweden, especially in Skåne, the political party Sverigedemokraterna is gaining more and more territory. The aim of this thesis is to examine if the presence of Sverigedemokraterna has had an effect on the other political parties in Kävlinge and Svedala municipality, with focus on images and collective identity. The aim is also to examine what influence Sverigedemokraterna might have on the political agenda of the two municipalities. In order to be able to fulfil the purpose of the essay, we chose to combine three kinds of qualitative methods; interviews, observations and literature studies. We used theories about images and collective identity to examine in which way the municipal politicians tend to classify Sverigedemokraterna in terms of different images and if their presence has effected the other politicians in terms of forming a collective identity.

The problems around and the planning of wood flow is some of the most complex issues in the forest-sector. The experience and overview of the single employees is crucial for the possibility of correct tactical and economical decision-making. The increasing demand of savings and shorter reaction-times with greater flexibility in the wood-supply-chain, makes solutions and aids for improved effectiveness in the work and processes according to wood-flow urgent. Holmen Skog is starting to develop a new forest-road-management-system. The system will facilitate the work according to construction, improvements and updating the standard of roads.

In the spring of 2006 a pilot project was initiated by The Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies of Sweden together with The Swedish Ornithological Society in order to increase collaboration between bird watchers and farmers. The project as a whole comprised 11 farms in South-Central Sweden. The aim was to benefit the decreasing populations of bird species related to the agricultural landscape. The purpose of this master thesis was to study how similarities and differences between bird watchers and farmers regarding opinions about nature, landscape, agriculture, birds and nature conservation have influenced the collaboration. Four of the farmers and five of the bird watchers that participated in the project were included in this study.

The overall aim is to examine how the European Union Water Framework Directive has affected the local water management in the catchment Märstaån situated in the eastern part of the lake Mälaren river basin, Sweden. The first part of the study gives an historical overview of the area with focus on how the old agricultural landscape was handling the nutrient load from farming activities by means of different kinds of wetlands. By using the concept of the procedural landscape, introduced by Torsten Hägerstrand , together with historical maps with dates starting from the 17th century, the pre-modern landscape is analyzed.  The second part is an investigation, based on qualitative data, on how the different actors in the catchment area work together to secure the water quality for the Märstaån river. The analysis shows that the Märstaån catchment river systems are mostly unchanged in the rural areas.  The exception is the mainstream section of the Märstaån river running partly underground today and the Halmsjöbäcken river that is heavily affected by the Arlanda airport situated within the catchment area.

Fog is a small-scale weather phenomenon that are fascinating to people. However, the presence of fog in road traffic reduces the visibility and increases the risk of road accidents. By the Swedish Road Weather Information System (VViS), the safety on roads could ameliorate and road accidents caused by fog and other weather hazards could be prevented. Fog is however a complex and usually local phenomenon, why fog formation generally is not easy to predict. For that reason, a statistical mapping of fog, especially along a motorway with high traffic volumes, could be useful in planning to prevent road accidents.

This thesis focuses on the driver?s experience of the road and its surroundings. ?The view from the road? takes place every day and a high-quality ?road experience? is therefore a question of importance. Since cars made their breakthrough in the 1920-30, the approach to ?the driver experience? has varied notably.

Stockholm city has recently raised its ambitions for bicycle traffic, the goal is to achieve a larger andsafer bicycle traffic. But cyclists are more vulnerable on the roads than other vehicle users because of the lack of protection. This means that a large proportion of road safety for cyclists is based on the design of the traffic environment. Since most serious bicycle accidents are those that occur in conflict with motor vehicles, and the majority of these accidents occur at intersections, these areas are of great importance forcyclist?s safety.The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  highlight  bicycle  accidents  at  intersections  and  to  suggest improvements  in three accident-prone junctions  in Stockholm.  This is  achieved  by  the study of accident statistics, literature and finally three case studies.The literature study focused on cyclists, traffic safety and traffic safety measures.

Wind power is becoming an increasingly important source of energy. There are several national and international goals set to increase to amount of renewable energy, and in order to meet these goals, the wind power production plays an important part and the establishment of new wind power farms are required. The Swedish national project Riksintresse Vindbruk has appointed areas in Sweden suitable for wind power, mainly when looking at the physical wind conditions of the area. In this study, I aim to define suitable areas for wind power establishment in Norrbottens län. In order to reach this goal, a critical regional method was developed and completed using GIS.

The purpose of this masters thesis is to evaluate bookmobile service as a decentralised library service. I have made a qualitative interview survey, with seven Swedish municipalities participating, all providing bookmobile service in their rural parts. The purpose with the interviews is to examine their bookmobile service. I have also studied articles on bookmobile service, and decentralisation through small library units in library journals, to get an insight into how the work with decentralised library service is done in Swedish municipalities. In this thesis answer is sought to the following questions: - Which decentralised library services are suitable for inhabitants and institutions in sparsely populated areas, considering factors such as number of inhabitants, proportion of old people and children, demographic changes, economy, possibilities to cooperate with other municipalities? - What is the current bookmobile service situation in Sweden, taking seven municipalities in the region of Småland as a starting point? My conclusions are that each municipality must decide which decentralised library services that best suites their needs.

Att köra eller inte köra is a qualitative study aiming to show how environmentally conscious people who utilizes cars deal with their dissonant behavior, but at the sametime maintain an identity as environmentally conscious. The study is based on the fact that a third of those who drive cars in the municipality of Växjö would like to decrease their use of cars while at the same time having the infrastructural conditions to utilize other means of transportation. The study investigates inner obstacles in the form of habits and lifestyle, but also the different strategies the motorists use to reduce their cognitive dissonance and maintain a green identity. The indicators show that the reason the majority of the motorists continue to utilize cars is part due to inner obstacles (it's adeeply rooted habit, but also a big part of their lifestyles), part due to that the individuals have defenses for their use of their cars, defenses designed to have a dissonance reducing effect. The indicators also show that the motorists value their family higher than the environment, and in this way they can legitimize many of their car uses.

Tuberculosis is one of many infectious diseases in the world and is responsible for a large number of human deaths each year. The cause is Mycobacterium ssp included in the tuberculosis-complex, there among Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infection with M. bovis causes bovine tuberculosis in cattle which in 90 % has a pulmonary location. Humans are infected mainly by milk from infected cows but also by close contact with coughing animals or by eating raw meat.

Tuberculosis is one of many infectious diseases in the world and is responsible for a large number of human deaths each year. The cause is Mycobacterium ssp included in the tuberculosis-complex, there among Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infection with M. bovis causes bovine tuberculosis in cattle which in 90 % has a pulmonary location. Humans are infected mainly by milk from infected cows but also by close contact with coughing animals or by eating raw meat.

An increasing global population and a worldwide growing urbanization has raised the questionabout the future food security in cities all over the world. Peak-oil limits the access to cheap fossilfuels which threatens the global food-supply chain. This has resulted in a larger awareness anddiscussion related to urban agriculture. Growing crops and keeping animals within the city-borderscould be one way of creating a more robust and sustainable food supply for city dwellers. However,to enable an expansion of the urban agriculture many theorists argue that policies and institutionalstructures that supports and promotes city farming have to be developed.

Stockholm city has recently raised its ambitions for bicycle traffic, the goal is to achieve a larger andsafer bicycle traffic. But cyclists are more vulnerable on the roads than other vehicle users because of the lack of protection. This means that a large proportion of road safety for cyclists is based on the design of the traffic environment. Since most serious bicycle accidents are those that occur in conflict with motor vehicles, and the majority of these accidents occur at intersections, these areas are of great importance forcyclist?s safety.The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  highlight  bicycle  accidents  at  intersections  and  to  suggest improvements  in three accident-prone junctions  in Stockholm.  This is  achieved  by  the study of accident statistics, literature and finally three case studies.The literature study focused on cyclists, traffic safety and traffic safety measures.