The potential of information technology as a means to invigorate democratic practise is constantly under discussion. Regardless of the differing opinions as to the most suitable way to utilise IT, there are certain democratic core values that have to be considered. One of these is freedom of information, defined by us as the right of every citizen to seek, obtain and express information. The aim of this study is to explore whether the use of IT as a means to enhance democracy can strengthen the citizens right to freedom of information. As an instrument for analysis we use an article by Jan van Dijk, professor of communication science.

This master thesis was initiated with the aim to answer at what level of installed capacity of wind power in the northern parts of Sweden it would be beneficial to improve the transmission capacity from the northern Sweden. During the process of this work the aim has changed to try and create a model that can be used to analyze how well the hydro power installed in the northern Sweden can even out the quick changes in wind power production.To create a good model of all hydro power in northern Sweden is a very large job, unfortunately too large for a master thesis. This report therefore ends with an extensive analysis of the simplifications that have been made and their effects as well as a list of the future work that has to be done.The model that has been created have shown to be effective and produce good results. The conclusions that can be made is that the northern Swedish hydro power have very good possibilities to balance the wind power production. Only a few cases where water have been spilled even though there has been some free capacity has been discovered.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine the portrayals of class in four Swedish contemporary novels that have been mentioned as working class literature in the literary public sphere. During the 20th century, society has undergone vast changes due to globalization and technology development. The rise in standards of living for most people in the Western societies has led to changed consumption patterns. In consequence, there has been increased emphasis given to cultural rather than materialist explanations of social stratification.

The release of green house gases and the environmental impacts humans have on the environment are huge and might cause irreversible changes to our earth. Meat is considered to have large impacts on the environment, especially beef meat and therefore there have lately been considerable discussions on the sustainable level of meat consumption and production. The main goal with this thesis is to study sustainable meat production and meat consumption in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Indicators for sustainable meat production and meat consumption were developed and applied on three cases. Interviews were carried out with a municipality in the region that represents the consumer and three beef farmers that represents the producers.

This report describes and explains the development of a comprehensive solution including visual identity, print catalog, website and online shop for the furniture company Resize Design. The development and production of these have occurred in the iterative processes with relevant theories as a basis. The theories include user-centered work processes, usability, design principles, interaction design, design patterns and web-compatible solutions. The report documents and discusses the work which is divided into different phases. .

Undersökningen syftar till att utreda huruvida historiemedvetandet hos elever med ett dubbelt kulturarv från Sverige och ett arabisktalande land kan inkluderas i historiegymnasiekursen 1a1. Med hjälp av relevant litteratur och utifrån problemformuleringen: ?Hur kan pedagogen lära känna elevens historiemedvetande?? har jag utarbetat intervjufrågor som avser till ett ta fram exempel på dessa elevers historiemedvetande. Undersökningens urval var sex elever som gått på yrkesförberedande gymnasium och har läst eller läser historiekursen 1a1. Intervjuerna är utarbetade med hjälp av litteratur kring historiemedvetandet främst utifrån perspektiven kultur, identitet och intresse.

The Swine flu (H1N1) erupted in 2009 and wasquickly spread over the world and developed into a pandemic, with a great threat against people?s health. It was soon discovered that the H1N1?virus had a different character than the seasonal flu, since it especially affected younger individuals and the consequences from the disease were expected to be more severe. In Sweden it was decided to provide a free of charge vaccination against the H1N1-virus, and the Swedish vaccination ratiobecome relatively high compared to other countries.

The release of green house gases and the environmental impacts humans have on the environment are huge and might cause irreversible changes to our earth. Meat is considered to have large impacts on the environment, especially beef meat and therefore there have lately been considerable discussions on the sustainable level of meat consumption and production. The main goal with this thesis is to study sustainable meat production and meat consumption in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Indicators for sustainable meat production and meat consumption were developed and applied on three cases. Interviews were carried out with a municipality in the region that represents the consumer and three beef farmers that represents the producers.

Research concerning movement patterns of wild animals has been advancing since GPS technology arrived. But studying the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is still difficult because of the harsh territory it inhabits in Central Asia. This study took place in south Gobi, Mongolia, and aimed to estimate the time spent at kills and the maximum distance away from kills between visits. Snow leopards were monitored with GPS collars that took a location every five or seven hours. Potential kill sites were established by identifying clusters of GPS-locations in ArcGIS and visited in the field for confirmation.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and clarify the facts surrounding one of Vattenfall's district heating plants; The "solar field" and associated rock cavern in Lyckebo, Storvreta. The plant was built in the '80s by the formerly municipal utility,Uppsalakraftvärme AB, as an experimental building. A ground water filled cavern would serve as seasonal storage of solar heat from an adjacent solar field. Since both the energy company and the facility itself has undergone major changes over the past 30 years, there was a great need to gather facts in order to provide a picture of its current condition and potential for continued use. The thesis investigates the plant's history and problems with the rock cavern losses, and how the operation developed. It also presents the calculations regarding the possibilities of again supplementing the facility with solar energy - which is not the case today - as well as the economic conditions for it. Regarding a re-launch of solar energy, primarily a concentrating solar collector has been studied, as it has the advantages of an integrated control system.

The aim of this literature review was to make a comparison between the feeding requirements of Swedish reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) and meat producing cattle (Bos taurus) within farming. Reindeer are an intermediate feeding type; they have the ability to adapt to short term seasonal changes in food. They avoid eating fibre as much as possible and display highly selective behaviour while foraging. Adaptation to harsh environments with a limited amount of food has made reindeer dependent upon easily digestible food and consequently their digestive systems are less capable of processing plants with high fibre content. Herding is an extensive system which requires a significant amount of land and labour and describes the reindeer industry.

This paper is a quantitative case study named Outdoor recreation of urban areas viewed through a gender perspective. The intention of this paper is, by studying gender pattern in outdoor recreation practices in Gothenburg, to describe gender patterns in outdoor recreation of Swedish urban areas. This subject is important to study because of the practices of outdoor recreation forward public health. Today many people suffer from diseases caused by stress and too little exercise, which could be prevented if they practiced outdoor recreation. Not everyone has the same possibility to practice outdoor recreation because of the inequalities between women and men.

Coping theory asks what the cognitive and behavioral patterns of individuals dealing with stress are. This essay includes, besides the perspective of the psychology of religion, theories of culture and ritual in exploring two Swedes coping with the natural disaster in Thailand year 2004. The vacation paradise was struck by an enormous flood wave, called a tsunami, causing vast destruction and the death of over 200.000 people. Among these 543 were Swedes on vacation. When a disaster of such measures happens, what kind of stress does it cause? How do you cope? Are religion and ritual important? What is the function of the culture in the copingprocess? Using hermeneutical analysis this essay interprets the material from two books by Swedes, who not only experienced the disaster, but lost two children and husband and wife in the flood wave.

The Swine flu (H1N1) erupted in 2009 and wasquickly spread over the world and developed into a pandemic, with a great threat against people?s health. It was soon discovered that the H1N1?virus had a different character than the seasonal flu, since it especially affected younger individuals and the consequences from the disease were expected to be more severe. In Sweden it was decided to provide a free of charge vaccination against the H1N1-virus, and the Swedish vaccination ratiobecome relatively high compared to other countries.

Alcohol and drug abuse is something that undoubtedly exists in our society today. Our interest in this area was inspired by an earlier study of the influence of socialization on these dependencies. From this we developed new hypotheses concerning men and women?s drug and alcohol abuse. The main purpose of this study was to highlight the experiences and reflections of six women and seven men on their own alcohol or drug abuse.