Humanity has always dreamed about a better world. These dreams has manifested themselves in the vision of Utopia - the good place, but also the non-existing place. Up until World War II man still wrote optimistic descriptions of this ideal world, and spread the idea through literature. In the aftermath of the atomic bomb and under the influence of the cold war, these publications seized to surface in literary surroundings. Despite this utopia did not die - it has only changed.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the theories and visions of five futuristic projects at children's libraries in Sweden and Denmark to investigate if these projects have approaches that are significantly different from today's best practices of the libraries and the current theories behind the children's sections.More specific questions are also asked:Are the projects taking advantage of the children's perspective or is it the adult vision of children's needs that is governing?Are the projects promoting collaborations with other actors, thereby facilitating a future development of the children's library by others than librarians?The comparisons reveal that new methods and tools are beeing developed, while the traditional ambitions and views on children and children's needs are essentially unchanged. The role of the library as a social room and meeting place has increased, while its role as a place for finding and transferring information has been challenged by Internet and home computers. The library can still compete as a public place offering relevant contents and assistance by attentive, well-educated adults.In conclusion, the futuristic projects are expected to promote greater variations between children's libraries, by presenting literature, media and information in many different and more innovative ways. Such greater diversity and multiplicity would allow the libraries to market themselves with a clearer message in order to compete with other (commercial) activities for children..

Ruins and derelict places have since long fascinated and attracted humans. With my starting point in the wild vegetation and the spontaneous activities taking place on derelict land and in industrial ruins, I explore with help from the theoretical sociology, what creates not only this fascination but also fear. The purpose of the thesis is to explore and exemplify how the industrial ruin as a place outside the restrictions and control as well as design intentions of modern society can be used as an inspiration in a landscape architecture context.The modern city consists of areas and places with a well defined purpose. A piece of derelict land or a disused building is instead ambiguous, undefined and open for new purposes. However described in negative terms, these placesare often perceived as places of mystery and magic.

Visby is a city that at first glance is of medieval origins. The popular image of scientists today is that the city was formed in the Middle Ages. According to some of the researchers Visby was formed during the Viking Age, it is based on the basis that the area has been used for a long period. Urban development in the Nordic countries is complex and there are different opinions as to why the Nordic cities emerge. It is important to shed light on the underlying process on why cities are emerging to provide clarity as to why Visby city is emerging.

Varje elev i den svenska skolan har rätt att få kunskap om och insikt i demokratiska principer. Detta är stadgat i den svenska Skollagen och i läroplanen sedan 1946. Skolverket gav 2004 alla svenska skolor i uppdrag att arbeta på ett hälsofrämjande sätt. Elevinflytande och delaktighet i skolan är positiva hälsofrämjande faktorer, genom att eleverna ges möjligheter att själva få påverka sin situation och därmed skapa tillhörighet, sammanhang och meningsfullhet med skolarbete. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur åtta grundskoleelever från åk 9 förklarade och upplevde elevinflytande och delaktighet.

Chronic illness is associated with conditions that may result in psychological ill-health in the adolescence. Consequently there is a need for development of preventive psychosocial support interventions for this target group. The objective was to develop, implement, and evaluate the effect of supportive intervention group program for teenagers suffering from chronic illness - aiming at increasing quality of life and supporting mental and physical health. Method: Six different intervention groups were conducted between 2007 and 2011, age 13?17.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible reasons Sweden might have had to motivate the start and end of its nuclear program during the Cold war. This investigation will be conducted using a qualitative research method and making a comparison between the theories realism and liberalism?s ability to explain the decisions. The question this paper is based upon is as follows: Can Sweden?s creating and shutting down of a nuclear weapons program during the Cold war be explained by the international events and actions that were taking place during this time period? The result consists of liberalism pointing out several failures on the international level that might explain the cynical decision from Sweden to create the nuclear weapons. Realism considers the decision to make perfect sense at this point in time, to protect Sweden on the anarchy that was going on at that time according to this theory.The ending of the nuclear weapons program is being explained largely by the rise of the MAD-concept which renders the acute need of nuclear weapons in Sweden void.  Liberalism on the other hand considers this a logic step due to the better established UN that is playing a larger role now than in the 1940s. In conclusion, realism does a better job explaining the start of the nuclear weapons program, while liberalism explains the end of it more efficiently. The contribution this thesis has to the research of political science can be seen mainly in three areas.

During the last 100-200 years people have change their way of living and the condition and need for survival is no longer depending on the agricultural work. The forestry has replaced the farming and a lot of the natural pastural have been lost. Wessmantorp in the north part of Skåne is an old place for forestry and farming where people have been living for several hundred years. Studies of selected parts of the everyday landscape, that earlier have been settlement with small crofter?s holding, show that the changes in the landscape mostly depends on the human factor and that a lot of the cultivable soil have been replaced with spruce. Some of the areas, which the earlier dwellings were placed, still contain some remains of old house foundations and stone fences and can regard as being of an historical value. The studies provide the reader with a short background, the place as it is today and the changes of the land use in Wessmantorp.

SUMMARYThe Swedish laws of animal welfare emphasize the social needs of the horse but nothing is said about how to fulfill this. Though there are few studies done in this subject it can be difficult to understand if the needs are fulfilled. The purpose of this study was to learn more about the horse?s social needs in box stable and to increase other people?s knowledge and understanding of the horse behavior to increase the welfare of the stabled horse. The questions where: How does the horse choose to place itself depending on what horse is next to it? How many attempts does the horse do to take contact and nose contact with the horse next to it? How does the box design affect the horse behavior?22Eight horses were videotaped during 24 nights.

The purpose of this essay has been to investigate the research and national initiatives regarding film and Cineliteracy in the Swedish curriculum.The results show that, after all research, national initiatives and the continual clarification from the Swedish National Agency for Education concerning film's place in the Swedish subject, the vision of students cineliteracy not at all obtain an obvious place in the curriculum.The research points out the main causes behind this result to be teachers' lack of expertise and the fact that the formal education for future teachers in the subject still upholds traditional views on the subject of Swedish.The initiative presented in this essay also show lack of continuity, lack of adequate professional development opportunities for teachers and lack of practical guidance manuals to help teachers to develop and educate their pupils in line with current research and visions. .

The purpose of this study was to examine the various influences and advertising in particular affecting travelers' choice of destination. Data collection was conducted through quantitative method in the form of a survey to identify how travelers choose a destination, and to what extent they are influenced by advertising. Interviewees were travelers who were in Stockholm's central station would be passed on to Arlanda. The results from this study indicate that underlying factors such as economy, security, seasonal and service in place. The results also show that advertising is an important factor in selecting the destination.

Street art can be defined as an artistic expression, often anonymous and illegal, which is constructed in the public environment. The purpose of this essay is to provide a broad and balanced picture of what street art can mean. The aim is to examine street art as a phenomenon. What features has the phenomenon and in what ways is it important for the creators, spectators and place? This paper focuses on graffiti.

Today we spend a lot of time at our place of work. Changes in the Swedish labour market have caused illness for many people. This has contributed to that many people have been reported sick. The purpose with this study was to investigate and deskribe factors the staff, at a social insurance office, identify as important for health at a place of work. Ten employees at the social insurance office took part in the study.

Health care costs in relation to GDP are escalating all over Europe and the Swedish health care industry is not an exception. Between 30 and 50 percent of resources used in health care are considered waste, in the sense that they don't contribute to increased health. This illustrates the big need for hospitals to become more efficient which is why many hospitals today are trying to move towards a process-oriented organization. This paper therefore aims to identify the elements necessary for this type of organizational change, the barriers encountered when moving from a functional to process oriented hospital as well as how to overcome them. The case study was conducted at Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset and shows the importance of not just transmitting a sense of urgency but also communicating that the upcoming change is long term.

Syfte:                     Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva, analysera samt tillhandahålla rekommendationer om huruvida stimulans av sinnena, leder till att kundernas beslutsfattande förändras genom taktil beröring. Vi vill med hjälp av en empirisk studie klargöra om kunder ändrar sitt känselbeteende efter att sinnet syn blivit påverkat. Metod:                   Uppsats är baserad på en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Arbetet kretsar kring de experiment som utförts med tillhörande kundintervjuer på heminredningsavdelningen på Åhléns i Kalmar. Hypoteser har formats ur instuderad teori, som sedan har testats under experimenten på Åhléns. Slutsats:        Genom stimulans av sinnena syn och känsel, har författarna med hjälp av experiment kunnat registrera ett förändrat beteende gällande kunders beslutsfattande. Resultatet tyder på att företag kan använda sig av sinnesstimuli för att skapa kontakt med sina kunder.