AbstractIT can facilitate communication among individuals and connect people across geographical distances. On the contrary, citizens of the society who do not use communication technologies to some extent might feel excluded from the information society. As elderly citizens are already in a vulnerable position for the digital divide, communication technology becomes an important tool for interacting with friends and family. The social situation of elderly, 60 years of age and older, is a topic of current interest since they are the fastest growing age group in the world today. Further, social interaction becomes more important among elderly since it has a positive effect on well- being.

The aim of this research is to find out what environmental impact a wave power park has on the Swedish west coast by creating a consultation paper (?Samrådsunderlag?) for the Lysekilproject at Uppsala University. To highlight the complexity of the problem a system analytic approach was used and illustrated by a Causal Loop Diagram.The overall assessment of the Lysekilprojects wave power park at the Swedish west coast is that it will have a low impact on the environment. This is due to the relative small size of the wave power park and some technical solutions made with the environmental aspect in mind. Artificial reefs and a sanctuary for marine species are effects created by the wave power park and in the longer term the impact will give access to an untapped source of renewable energy, wave energy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the controversy surrounding the Swedish methadone assisted rehabilitation program over time. Which course has the Swedish methadone assisted rehabilitation program, and the controversy surrounding it, taken since the start? Which arguments have been for and which have been against a methadone assisted rehabilitation program in Sweden, and what are these arguments based on? We chose to write this thesis as a literature study to get a broad and in depth picture of the development of the program in Sweden. In our analysis we used social constructionism and a medical aspect on substance abuse as theories.It is clear that it has been, and still are, differences in opinions when it comes to the effects of the program. As early as in the 1980's the methadone assisted rehabilitation program was scientifically proved effective and approved by the Swedish Board of Health and Social Affairs.

The purpose of this study has been to maintain a deeper understanding of how unestablished, professional musicians can get discovered by the music industry by communication, branding and positioning of their brand at social media.We found that fans have a greater impact on unestablished musicians than we previously thought. They have to create an identity for their brand, keep active on social media and engage their fans. Musical artists must maintain an ongoing dialogue to keep their fanbase, preferably with emotions involved. No fans equals minimum attention from the industry. Uniformity and professionalism is also important, because it evokes seriousness.

The aim of this study examines how two groups of social workers at two workplaces reflect to their own clothes in various work situations. We want to gain an understanding of the variables that affects social workers choice of clothes at work. In a qualitative approach the study is based on two focus group-interviews and four semi structured interviews. Empirically analyzes relate to Pierre Bourdieu?s "la distinction, Ervin Goffman?s "frontstage-backstage", and of Michele Foucault?s power concepts.

The purpose of this study has been to maintain a deeper understanding of how unestablished, professional musicians can get discovered by the music industry by communication, branding and positioning of their brand at social media.We found that fans have a greater impact on unestablished musicians than we previously thought. They have to create an identity for their brand, keep active on social media and engage their fans. Musical artists must maintain an ongoing dialogue to keep their fanbase, preferably with emotions involved. No fans equals minimum attention from the industry. Uniformity and professionalism is also important, because it evokes seriousness.

The purpose of this essay was to investigate affecting factors concerning social workers in social services assessments with cases of abuse. We wanted to see if social workers in social services tend to make different assessments of the need of substance abusers care. Our survey was carried out as a vignettesurvey with complementary interviews as means to deepen the outcome results.Our survey showed that the included social workers in social services in some senses make different assessments when it comes to choice of effort put in for the client. We shed light on different factors and circumstances, which could bear meaning for the social workers in social services assessments. Examples of factors were the social workers in social services age, gender, working experience and attitude towards substance abusers..

Gastric ulcer is a common disease among pigs in the whole world where an intensiveproduction occurs. It is mainly the upper region, the nonglandular region of the stomach thatis affected. Gastric ulceration is a disease with several risk factors. The factor that seems tohave the largest impact on the development of gastric ulceration is a small particle size of thefeed. The reported prevalence of gastric ulceration differs from 5 to 100 % and it is a largeherd-to-herd variation.

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how societal mechanisms can impact on asylum seekers and influence their individual identity. The information for this case study was collected through comprehensive interviews with a group of asylum seekers from Söderhamn whereby the individuals expressed their perception of their current situation. From the gathered material we could see a pattern emerge which gave us the framework and the foundation for our theoretical approach. The similarity we discovered when analyzing the material was the powerlessness the individuals experienced e.g. the individuals had no possibility to influence their current situation and worse, it was impossible for the individuals to enter society even when they had the willpower to do so.

The aim of this paper is to spread some light over contract treatment from the perspective of the District Courts, Social Services and Probation Services, and understand the reason for local variation of the number of people sentenced to contractual treatment.Essential questions asked in this paper are; What advantages and disadvantages are known by the cooperating parties regarding contract treatment in comparison to prison? What parameters are considered when the cooperating parties decide upon contract treatment? What impact does the shared responsibility of cost have? What do the respondents think is the reason for the local variation?In order to answer the essential questions a qualitative and descriptive method has been used to highlight the main question of our study; What is the reason for the local variation in number of contract treatment sentences in Halmstad and Ystads district courts?The paper shows that the local variation between the Probation Services districts is dependent on the conditions to propose a contract treatment. In Halmstad it is not conditioned for the Probation Services to have a responsibility agreement with the Social Services to the same extent as for the Probation Services in Ystad..

Starting at the end of the Cold War, this publication assesses the impact of the upheavals in Eastern Europe and the atrophic Soviet Union on the Swedish doctrine of neutrality with its 200 year old tradition. Since the end of world war two the proximity of the Soviet Union had constituted the major impetus for upholding a position of neutrality and as this vanished a pressure for change was created. This essay works with a theoretical framework delineated by Kjell Goldmann and under this disposition, the Swedish tradition of neutrality, governmental positions, opposition and four major influential newspapers are studied. The standings of each variable are canvassed in an attempt to explain the development of Swedish security policy during the crucial years of 1988-1992..

As a small and land scarce country, effective waste management is ofoutmost importance in Singapore. In this study the production of biogasthrough anaerobic digestion from the organic fraction of municipal solidwaste (OFMSW) was compared to incineration of the waste. At the momentalmost all of the OFMSW in Singapore is incinerated. Three differentscenarios were compared to the reference scenario (incineration): one with alarge scale biogas plant that can treat half of all OFMSW in Singapore, onewith a medium scale biogas plant about 15 times smaller than the large oneand one with a small scale biogas plant that can treat waste from e.g. ashopping center or a food center.By using life cycle assessment (LCA) the different scenarios were comparedin terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification, eutrophication,energy use and land use.

The purpose of this research was to examine what motivates and influences an individual to invest in a project or company through equity-based crowdfunding. The intention was therefore to identify internal and external motivation factors and examine how external social factors such as the Internet, other individuals? investment decisions and interaction in social groups affect an individual when he or she invests through equity-based crowdfunding. The results showed that both internal and external motivation factors are important components of an investment through equity-based crowdfunding. External motivators proved to be for example yields and helping entrepreneurs.

To act responsible in relation to environmental, economic and social issues is a trend that is spreading among businesses and their investors. In order to assess business risks, ethical interested investors are calling for open, honest, clear CSR information that can be followed up in corporate sustainability reports. The ability to communicate about risks and to meet investors requests already in the business analytic process can save resources and increase the company?s profitability.The idea that companies should take responsibility for their impact on society from economic, environmental and social perspective is called Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. In addition to CSR, there is another three-letter abbreviation in this context, PRI ? Principles for Responsible Investment ? which are principles, signed by ethically interested investors.

An investigation of the heat impact of laser cutting on the material properties when producing tensile and impact test specimens of different steel types of varying thickness has been performed. The purpose of the thesis project was to provide recommendations regarding how much material that needs to be milled from the laser cut edge before tensile and impact tests. The study has been performed partly by investigating the test specimens by heat camera when the specimens were cut in the laser cutting line and partly by performing hardness tests, investigation by microscopy, and tolerance and roughness measurements and tensile tests of the laser cut material and material produced in the traditional multi operation machine. The results show that the heat affected zone in the thicker materials is greater than previously thought of, and that the currently used recommendation has to be adjusted. The study clearly shows that the thicker the material, the greater the heat affected zone, independently of the steel type, since the thicker material takes longer time to cut.