The local politicians in Sweden are responsible for a great deal of the welfare system why one would assume that there are a lot of demands put on them - demands for certain skills or a certain level of competence. I have in this study tried to find out how the demands on the local representatives concerning the demands for competence and the actual level of competence among the politicians are affecting the local politics. This was done through investigating how the local politicians are perceiving their level of competence and the demands put on them, but also how the employees are perceiving the demands and the level of competence put on the politicians. The study was made in the municipality of Gislaved in Southern Sweden. I was using both quantitative method (an opinion poll among the politicians and employees in the municipality) and qualitative method (interviews with three politicians and three employees and literature studies).In order to investigate the demands for competence I split the concept into ?soft? competence (socially and emotionally based skills), and ?hard? competence (skills based on knowledge, education and experience).

Within the next five years about 15 % of the Swedish forest owners that will undergo a succession of ownership. Presently the most common way to acquire a forest estate in Sweden is to acquire it within the family. To decide to let go after a whole life as a forest owner and manager of your own land is for many people a hard decision to make and often requires a long process. The complex process that a succession of ownership often is includes both questions about economy, legal aspects and regulations, taxes and questions of more personal nature, often called soft issues. These personal aspects or soft issues are important and can if handled poorly or not at all negatively affect relationships in the family for a very long time.

How accessible is the city? Is there more factors than merely the strictly physical that affect how accessible the city is perceived? These questions are the starting point of this study. The greatest emphasis, in this study, is placed on the perceived parameters that affect us humans when we move in our cities. Experiences and internal images can change our behaviour and prevent free movement in the city. The result from this study shows that a city can not be seen as fully accessible unless both the physical and the perceived accessibility are fulfilled.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att genom en teoretisk och empirisk grundad diskussion undersöka vilka strategier som står till buds för de svenska dagligvarukedjorna vid en branschförändring på grund av en nyetablering av en hard discount aktör. Uppsatsens utgångspunkt är en abduktiv ansats där en växelverkan mellan teori och empiri är central. Vi har genom en kvalitativ metod samlat in primärdata genom elva delvis strukturerade intervjuer. Vi presenterar intervjumaterialet i ett empirikapitel och tillsammans med en förstudie kopplas sedan detta underlag till relevanta teorier. De teorier som vi funnit vara av intresse för vår studie är bl.a.

This essay concerns the possible tabloidization of Swedish daily newspapers. To investigate if tabloidization theory could be supported, a case-study is made using the isolated crisis of an especially big forest-fire in the county of Västmanland in Sweden in the summer of 2014. One local paper of the daily press, Vestmanlands Läns Tidning and one tabloid-paper with a national spread, Aftonbladet, are compared using quantitative content analysis to see whether there are similarities or differences enough to support or reject that the daily press is under influence of tabloidization. The results of the two papers news coverage of the fire are compared in three main categories; Theme, Source and Value-words. These categories represent three of tabloidization?s main criteria; ?soft news?, personification of sources and more use of words that connote strong values as signs of a lower quality in journalism.

It is a common-held belief that the social worker for the most part uses oneself as a ?tool? in working with clients. This study seeks to examine that ?tool? in the context of treatment of teenage boys with psychosocial problems such as criminal behavior, drug-abuse and/or abusive home environment. The main purpose is to identify the conceptions of masculinity, and more specific hegemonic and subordinated masculinity, of the professionals working with the boys.

Title: Images of Sweden in ItalyNumber of pages: 5252 (589 including enclosures)Author: Oskar GustafssonTutor: Martin NilssonCourse: Political Science C level ? Bachelor?s ThesisPeriod: Spring term 2010University: School of Social SciencesLinnaeus UniversityPurpose/Aim: The purpose of my research study is to, through the use of political science theories on soft power and marketing theories about nation branding and in comparison to previous studies on the image of Sweden in Italy, gains a better understanding of the image of Sweden in Italy, with special focus on national political institutions and young Italians.Method: The method of analysis is a combination of qualitative methods: interviews where information about the image of Sweden amongst national political institutions were gathered and a survey where information was gathered about the image of Sweden amongst young Italians.Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained it can be concluded that a positive and well informed image of Sweden emerges when it comes to cultural and social factors but a more restricted and somewhat negative image come to light when asking national political institutions and young citizens in Italy about their views and knowledge on Swedish domestic and international politics and economics.Keywords: Soft power, Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, Images of Sweden, Italy..

Syftet med denna studie har varit att beskriva hur det arbetas, i en stadsdel i Stockholm, med arbetslösa biståndstagare som står nära arbetsmarkanden utifrån fyra handläggares erfarenheter. De valda handläggarna har varit två socialsekreterare och två Soft-handläggare. För att kunna uppfylla syftet har jag utgått från följande frågeställningar: Vilka krav ställs på arbetslösa biståndstagare som står nära arbetsmarknaden? Vilka insatser och åtgärder erbjuds till denna grupp av biståndstagare? Arbetas det utifrån arbetslinjen eller workfare?Det empiriska materialet består av fem kvalitativa intervjuer varav en med enhetschefen och fyra med handläggarna. Resultatet har visat att det ställs två krav på arbetslösa biståndstagare som står nära arbetsmarknaden, nämligen att stå till arbetsmarknadens förfogande och att vara aktivt arbetssökande.

The Swedish Institute is a public agency promoting Swedish interest, national image and confidence around the world. This work attempts to investigate how communication and a process over time influences and effects public diplomacy. The analytic discussion is based on a single case study research of this Institute representing ideas in the international science field of public diplomacy. The theoretical ideas of public diplomacy are placed in a theoretical perspective of social constructivism. The method is qualitative, with excerpts taken from interviews, literature, newspapers, articles, state public reports and social media.

The City of Gothenburg has an urgent need to upgrade its public transport. The capacity of its light rail transit (LRT) has reached maximum capacity within the inner city limits years ago. The construction of an underground metro will be very expensive and time consuming due to the soft clay beneath the city. The apparent need of developing another type of mass rapid transit (MRT) is urgent. An elevated metro have turned out to be a success in Greater Vancouver, but is it possible for the system to operate well in Gothenburg with its narrow streets and current land use; will its route coexist with the current LRT or will the noise disturb people too much?.

Denna uppsats behandlar frågan om kommunikationens inverkan under en organisationsförändring. För att förändringen ska vara meningsfull måste den också bli bestående. Denna fråga tas också hänsyn till i uppsatsen. Med hjälp av SSM som arbetsmetod har författarna undersökt en större komplex organisation som för närvarande genomgår en större förändringsprocess. Uppsatsen fokuserar på en del av informationsflödet i organisationen.

Water hardness indicates the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in water. Water with high concentrations of these ions is described as hard water and water with low concentrations is described as soft water. Water that is too hard or too soft can lead to technical and economical problems. In collaboration with Midvatten AB, groundwater hardness in the Badelunda esker between Leksand and Avesta has been mapped, and an attempt has been made to explain the variations. For this purpose, different GIS programs, such as ArcView, ArcInfo, IDIRISI, and one geochemical modelling program, PHREEQC, has been used.

One of many difficult issues in veterinary medicine is the assessment of an animal's experience of pain. As a licensed veterinary nurse in Sweden you are obligated by law to work by the concept of evidence based medicine. To achieve this the author of this study sees the need for standardized methods of pain assessment. A Swedish version of Short form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS-SF) has recently been translated and developed. Furthermore, a psychometric validation needs to be performed to ensure its validity and reliability.

The aim of this study is to examine how young people look at and perceive drugs by studying how they discuss and reason about drugs. The essay's main interest is not whether young people use drugs or not. We are primarily interested in how young people talk about drugs. The questions that we want to get answered are:What are the beliefs that young people have about drugs, drug use and drug users? More specifically we seek answers to which images, symbols and attributes that young people links to drugs, drug use and drug users.What is important in young people's construction of beliefs about drugs and drug users? More specifically, which are the information sources and reference groups that young people assigns significance?We used focus group interviews as the research method.

The incidence of damage to the claws and legs in piglets caused by the floor in farrowing pens is a widely known problem and very common in today's pig herds. Although the association between floor and damage has been known for over 35 years, no suitable solution has been found to reduce the negative impact. The purpose of this study was to make a literature study to document the experiences of the use of different types of flooring in farrowing pens and also, in an own study, examine if soft floor in farrowing crates could lead to reduced damage to the claws and legs in piglets compared to concrete floor. The study was conducted in two herds, A and B. In each herd, farrowing pens with concrete floor and concrete floor with polyurethane coating were compared.