Barley is one of the most important cereals cultivated in the Nordic countries. Climate change brings warmer and moisture climate which favors fungal diseases. In the cropland barley can be seriously infested with hard fungus attack. Since it is important that the yield bears a high quality it is of great importance to find varieties more resistant to attacks.Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are stress proteins induced in the plant in response to infection and abiotic stress (van Loon, 1997). PRs are shown to have antimicrobial activity differing between bacteria, fungi and oomycetes (Tandrup Poulsen, 2001).

Bark-stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) cause extensive damage to economically valuable spruce trees (Picea abies) in Swedish forests. The underlying causes for bark-stripping are not fully understood, and the frequency and severity of damage unpredictably differ between regions. In this study, I investigated if landscape structure (e.g. agricultural dominated landscape opposed to forest dominated landscape), forage availability, population density and disturbance (e.g. roads and settlements) affect bark-stripping frequency.

The design regulations of Boverket (BKR) have long been the mandatory standard for construction design in Sweden. However from the end of the year 2010, the BKR will be replaced by the European standard Eurocode (EC). The transition to EC has been delayed and it is not until the second of May 2011 that the use of EC will be mandatory. Because EC and BKR differ from each other it is highly interesting to investigate and explain these differences.The purpose of the thesis is to compare the two standards and investigate how they give different results or not for the dimensioning of structures of steel with associated loads. The current project HVC (Pets Science Center) in Uppsala is used as a model for the design of the steel structure used in this study.

This essay is a case-study of an ethnically homogeneous association, situated in an ethnically heterogeneous neighbourhood. The purpose is to examine the social capital of the members in this particular association. The theory of social capital claims that this form of association constitutes an example of bonding social capital, and is running the risk of becoming excluding towards non-group members. However, several scientists suggest that the ethnically homogeneous associations can assist immigrants in their new home countries to become a part of society, hence promote a more bridging form of social capital. This would be extra valuable in an ethnically heterogeneous context where the phenomenon of social capital often has a hard time.

This two years master?s thesis consists of a domain analysis on the local Swedish newspaper Gefle Dagblad (GD). The domain analysis was developed by the Danish library and information scientist Birger Hjørland. The purpose of this theory is to understand the information behavior of individuals by studying the social and collec-tive context which surrounds this person. According to Hjørland, four different areas need to be studied in order to analyze a domain.

This study aims to determine whether pupils, students and teachers at various music schools feel that there is a difference in status between different music styles/genres, and if this has an impact on the individual level. The survey was conducted with a digital survey that was e-mailed to junior/high schools with music profile in the Stockholm area and to all the teachers and students at the Royal College of music in Stockholm (KMH). Due to low participation by students and teachers from the junior/high schools the students and teachers of KMH became the main object of the study. The results shows that a majority of the main group of this study feels that there is a difference in status between different music styles/genres. The study also shows that half of the participants believe that the difference in status affects them on an individual level.

Detta examensarbete handlar om social fostran i skolan ur ett elevperspektiv. Syftet med studien har varit att förstå elevers uppfattningar om social fostran i skolan. Vi har genom kvalitativa intervjuer frågat fem gymnasieelever om vilka upplevelser de har av social fostran i skolan, vilken form av social fostran de önskar att skolan använder sig av samt hur de upplever relationen mellan social fostran och en god arbetsmiljö. Elevernas upplevelser visade att läraren har en central roll och att relationen mellan lärare och elever är grundläggande för elevernas moraliska utveckling. Likaså önskar eleverna att lärarna ska vara goda förebilder och med ett tydligt förhållningssätt visa vad som är ett acceptabelt beteende.

The objective of this study was investigating social worker?s perspective of how alcohol consumption can affect, and what elements in the social environment that may be of significance for, alcohol consumption and development of identity. The questions at issue were: Do social workers experience any positive effects from alcohol consumption in 16-17 year-old girls with problematic alcohol consumption and what influence do the effects have on self esteem, self image and development of identity? What do social workers experience are the negative effects from alcohol consumption on self esteem, self image and development of identity? How important do social workers find the social environment and how do they believe the social environment affect the alcohol consumption and development of identity? This was investigated with a qualitative approach from a social worker?s perspective, hence social workers were interviewed. The study?s theoretical basis was Symbolic Interactionism and Erikson?s theory of Psychosocial Development.

 The main purpose is to investigate the main fea-tures of the discourse in the social medias about the legal view on cimes and criminals.                                                The special questions that are investigated are:1)    What specific features characterize the discourse in the social medias?2)    What are the legal restrictions for the freedom of speech on the Internet?3)    What attitudes can you find among lawyers towards the discourse in the social medias?4)    Are there grounds for presuming that the discourse in the social medias can effect the judgement in a special case?         .

This essay is about persons who have had social assistance and the individual?s experiences of social assistance. The focus is on how the individual develops in a new life situation and if and how they are motivated to get out of it. The essay has an individual perspective where the relation between society and the individual is important. The result is based on four qualitative interviews with a hermeneutic perspective.

This report deals with life-history variation for Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis L.), with special emphasis on age and size at maturity in females, in perch populations that have changed in size distribution. The collection of fish samples was made with multimesh gill nets year 2011. The perch?s length, height, weight, status of gonads has been analyzed, and by observing the opercular bone the age has been determined. In two lakes close to Umeå in northern Sweden, Fisksjön and Ängersjön, the live-history traits of perch have been studied.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to study, describe andimprove the understanding of voluntary driven libraries. How doesthe library staff view their role? How is the library operationworking in respect of economy, organization structure and systemsof rules? Research methods I used were semistructured interviewsand document research.The theoretical framework was based on Joacim Hansson´sdiscussion about libraries in a local community, Henning Bang´sdiscussion about organization culture and the Swedishgovernment´s non- profit advisory group`s discussion aboutvoluntary work.The results of this study shows that the library staff are enthusiastsmotivated by a wish to spread literature to people who find itdifficult to visit municipal libraries. Other motives for theirvoluntary work is the opportunity for being a part of a socialcommunity, to be surrounded by books and to activate body andsenses. The results of this study also shows that the voluntarylibrary system differ from the traditional, municipal library systemconcerning economy, organization structure and set of rules..

The thesis ?Vi fixar och trixar oss fram till att hjälpa människor? focuses on social work in the field of prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden. Through semi-structured interviews with social workers in the municipalities of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö working with persons selling and buying sex, and through discourse analysis, the author analyses the perceptions among these social workers of the relation between human rights, prostitution and human trafficking, and the social work which they conduct.The thesis concludes that although the social workers perceive prostitution and human trafficking and social work in this field as human rights related, they are not explicitly using a human rights based approach in their work.The thesis concludes that the social workers identify several aspects that infringe on the rights of their clients in relation to the human rights principles of Universality, Non-discrimination, Accountability and Rule of law and the principle of Participation and Inclusion. They portray the human rights situation of street based sellers, especially those not being Swedish citizens and those affected by human trafficking, as severe.The thesis concludes that the social workers find several obstacles (legal as well as structural) that diminish their ability to strengthen their clients? human rights situation.

Recent corporate challenges require effective communication in order to secure a company?s reputation. Companies as a result, need to be committed to a series of corporate social and environmental practices along with their financial commitments to their shareholders and investors. In fact, businesses are required to go above their ordinary operations and involve all potential stakeholders that can be affected by their strategies. Companies also need to communicate social, environmental and economic consequences of their activities along with their CSR commitments to their internal and external stakeholders in order to make a better corporate image and improve their market opportunities.

The aim of this research is to evaluate whether the social environment of Swedish high school students affects their views on the multicultural society. The research material was collected through the use of two focus groups containing high school students from two different schools, one group is used to a multicultural social environment while the other group is used to a less multicultural social environment. With the researcher acting as a moderator in the focus groups, the students discussed different questions regarding multiculturalism, gender equality and religion. The theory that this research is based on suggests that the social environment and the social capital affects the students views on the multicultural society. The results of the research were evaluated and connected to the theory.