In these days of globalization, with a higher level of openness and interaction over geographical, cultural and economical borders, the importance of the company?s intangible asset, its brand, is gaining importance as a differentiating factor. Building a strong brand and the emphasis on strategic brand management is something that before was given less attention in firms but today we can see a general increase in awareness and relative emphasis in the strategic work of companies.Countries as brands: Is it possible to consider a nation or a country as a brand the same way you consider a product? Well, looking in to the subject it seems to be a rather complex matter and there are many questions to be asked and answer. Nations around the globe are indeed marketing and positioning themselves for several purposes.

In this essay I plan to mainly write about the Christian church. However, I will shortly mention other parishes.In the first part I will in the first chapter write how the church saw earlier on HBLT (Homo-, Bisexual, Lesbians and Transgender) people. In the second chapter how the situation is today and finally in the third chapter I will try to see how the situation is in the future in both in a positive and negative aspect.In the second part I will write about Troy Perry, the founder of M.C.C. Metropolitan Community Churches). In the first chapter I will write shortly about when he was growing up, in the second about his vocation to become a minister and in the third chapter about his founding of M.C.C.In the third and last part I will in the first chapter write about the first years, in the second chapter about how it is today and in the third and last chapter what the elders in the church sees how the future will look like.My main question is to see if M.C.C.

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether or not it is possible to keep bottlenose dolphins and killer whales in captivity while maintaining good animal welfare. Today, many zoos and aquariums claim that their primary function is to conserve species and educate people about conservation and threatened species. The keeping of wild animals is justified by conservation programs and by the information spread to the zoo visitors. This does however not seem to be the case for marine mammals such as bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) and killer whales (Oricnus orca) since these species are not threatened in the wild and neither of them are listed as threatened in IUCN's Red List. Bottlenose dolphins and killer whales are entirely aquatic carnivores and are distributed in all coastal and pelagic waters from the Arctic ice in the north to the Antarctic ice in the south.

Syftet med arbetet är att upptäcka vilka föreställningar eleverna har om funktionsbegreppet genom att undersöka elevers tolkningar av övergången mellan representationsformerna graf, situation och formel. I undersökningen användes enkät och kvalitativ intervju för att undersöka detta. Resultatet visade att de undersökta eleverna som befann sig i slutfasen av Matematik B har svårigheter med att översätta från en representationsform till en annan men även att eleverna har missuppfattningar kring funktionsbegreppet. Det var inte möjligt att göra en generalisering av elevers missuppfattningar om funktioner. Dock belyser denna undersökning de svårigheter dessa elever har..

The purpose of this thesis was to find out how travel agencies work with relationships to their customers on the Internet. A case study with two companies was conducted, Ticket and Resia. In all four interviews were done, two in every company that served as basis for our conclusions. The study showed that it is important for travel agencies and other types of companies to create awareness of their web site in as many ways as possible and make it easy for the customer to find the web site. The contents on the web site have to be of current interest, it should be well structured and the usage of the web site should be easy.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how some teachers interpret, teach and assess listening strategies. Our investigation was based on interviews and a questionnaire answered by some year 9 English teachers. Furthermore, the aim was to study whether awareness and teaching of listening strategies are important for teachers in their everyday practice. The results indicate that the teachers interpret listening strategies as purposes for listening, such as listening for detail or the whole. The teachers do not explicitly teach listening strategies, and they do not assess them.

Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att få en inblick i hur lärare agerar och kommunicerar med förskolebarn i åldern ett till tre år om rumsuppfattning i utemiljön. Som metod använder vi oss av kvalitativa intervjuer och observationer för att besvara våra tre frågeställningar. Resultatet visar att lärarnas intresse och kunskap att tolka barnens både verbala och ickeverbala uttryck är en förutsättning för att inspirera till nya läranden om rumsuppfattning. Utemiljöns föränderliga möjligheter inspirerar både barn och lärare i deras kommunikation och utmanar till nya lärande om rumsuppfattning..

Familjeföretag har stor betydelse i västvärldens ekonomier. Dessa företag, i likhet med alla uthålliga företag, kommer förr eller senare till ett skede där ett ägarskifte/generationsskifte blir nödvändigt. Det är därför av intresse att studera vad som leder till att detta blir framgångsrikt. Detta eftersom vart tredje ägarskifte misslyckas. Denna magisteruppsatts syftar till att identifiera viktiga framgångsfaktorer förknippade med övergången av ledarskapet vid ett generationsskifte i ett familjeföretag med fokusering på introduktionen av efterträdaren, företrädarens/efterträdarens vision och hur dessa personer upplever företagets omgivning.

It is important to identify the consequences of alcohol consumption among university students since over-consumption can lead to health problems and poorer academic performance. The following personality factors, neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion, have in previous studies shown to be related to alcohol consumption  and shown to be associated with the university students' alcohol use and living arrangements. This study examines the following question; Is there a link between university students' alcohol consumption, and;1) the personality factors neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion?2) their living situation?3) personality factors and living situation together?Participating in this survey was one hundred university students with a mean age of 23.4 years (SD = 2.6). To examine participants' personality, alcohol consumption and living arrangements, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa, McCrae, 2003) questionnaire was used and the questionnaire also contained self-constructed questions about drinking habits, living arrangements and demographic questions. This study's results indicate that neuroticism, conscientiousness, living situation and extraversion predicts alcohol consumption (R2 = .354, p <.001). Thus, students who have these personality traits and circumstances one by one or together have a increased risk for alcohol over-consumption..

The aim of our study is to explore the empowerment process among micro-business owners in Kayamandi, a black township of Stellenbosch in South Africa. What are the positive and negative implications for the empowerment process? Another aim is to find out the role of local and international support in this process. The theoretical framework of this study revolves around the concepts of gender, power and empowerment. Our methods are qualitative interviews and observations.

Föreliggande studie är av kvalitativ art och grundar sig på intervjuer med tio arbetssökande ungdomars om deras situation där subjektiva upplevelser framkommit. Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för hur tio ungdomar upplever den egna situationen som arbetssökande och sin framtidstro. Ungdomarna befinner sig inom den arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärden Vägvisaren, vilket är empirins fält. Bakgrunden belyser vilka effekter det faktum att individen är arbetssökande får för vardagslivet. Bakgrunden behandlar också de faktorer som försvårar ungdomarnas inträde på arbetsmarknaden.

Companies around the globe all have one thing in common; they are surrounded by individuals or groups of individuals that can influence the company in one way or another. These individuals and groups of individuals are called stakeholders. This study in concerned with the importance of a company?s awereness of and relationship with which stakeholders surround them. The fact that more companies show awareness of responsible conduct, in particular of the environment and social aspects of management may be a way to build a strong corporate image.

To become old and live in an institution could mean that the habits and routines they have obtained during their lifetime and are used to may become changed. There are fixed norms and rules which the elderly more or less have to adjust to. The aim of this study was to describe how nursing staff attitudes influence on elderly care takers meal situation. The method of this study was a literature review. The result showed that norms and rules not always are adjusted to caretakers? wishes and needs.

The Baltic Sea is threatened by eutrophication that largely is due to nutrient leaching from farmland within the catchment area. To solve this problem the surrounding countries cooperate within various configurations such as HELCOM and the EU-financed project Baltic Compass. Poor manure management in Russia has been discussed frequently the last couple of years. A literature review of different types of reports and legal acts is the core of this degree project which has been performed in connection to two ongoing research projects financed by EU (Baltic Compass) and SIDA. It is supplemented with interviews with Swedish agricultural consultants and travel reports from two occasions when I had the opportunity to discuss with Russians active within the agricultural sector. Different hypotheses were investigated and discussed. The environmental debate in Russia is quiet and there is a widespread approach that economic profit always trumps environmental concern ? a Soviet heritage that influence the Russian agriculture considerably. The Russian legal acts on stable manure management focus mainly on sanitary questions and only secondary on nutrient leaching.

Bakgrund: Till följd av den demografiska utvecklingen och avvecklingen av platser i kommunernas äldreboende kommer framtidens vård att till stor del bedrivas i hemmet och utföras av närståendevårdare. Att själv vara gammal och vårda någon annan kan vara både fysiskt och psykiskt tärande och kan påverka både hälsa och livskvalitet. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva livskvalitet, självrapporterad hälsa och social situation hos personer i åldern 60-96 år i Blekinge, som ger stöd/hjälp eller vårdar någon närstående, i jämförelse med män och kvinnor som ej stödjer/ hjälper eller vårdar någon närstående. Metod: Uppgifter togs ur den nationella äldrestudien SNAC - The Swedish National study on Aging and Care. I Blekinge fanns totalt insamlade uppgifter från 1402 personer i åldrarna 60- 96 år och av dessa har vi jämfört 89 närståendevårdare med 89 icke närståendevårdare.