Deliberative democracy theory holds that democracy is about active partaking on formal and informal arenas in the public sphere where fairly equal citizens can obtain knowledge, discuss, evaluate and affect the political agenda before decisions are made.In line with the deliberative vision of online deliberation social media such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Twingly offer such formal and informal arenas where people can obtain knowledge and interact with other people, and politicians.The Swedish EU-Presidency was the first EU-presidency to make use of social media and it was the first time the Swedish Government Offices used other social media than email and chat features.This thesis will examine the Swedish EU-Presidency?s ambitions of using social media as well as the actual use of social media on the Swedish EU-Presidency website in the light of deliberative democracy theory.The aim of this thesis is, through a case study, to analyze the Swedish EU-Presidency?s use of social media in the light of deliberative democracy theory..

The aim of this study is to shed light on the phenomenon of destructive sexual behavior among youth from the perspective of professionals working at nonprofit organizations. To examine this, we used a qualitative method; we interviewed professionals working at nonprofit organizations. To analyze our results we used gender theory and empowerment theory. Our main results are that the professionals view this behavior as deliberate self-harm, such as cutting, as they do it to achieve relief from anxiety. Also, the professionals think that gender norms affect young people with destructive sexual behavior in that it imposes guilt and shame, which inflicts their already low self-esteem and makes them feel inferior.

In today?s horse keeping, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of movement and activity for the horses comfort and tenability, while tradition has it that horses should be kept in boxes and small paddocks. In order to develop housing systems that fulfils and optimizes the horses needs regarding movement and activity, we need to know more about factors that influence the activity patterns of horses. A first step is to be able to record and analyze the gaits in horses with an automated system. This could be done by use of accelerometer data.In this pilot study, existing accelerometer technique was used to characterize the different gaits in horses (walk, trot and canter) by studying how their respective signal patterns differ and how this is influenced by the size of the horse.The accelerometers being used in this study measures the movement in three different spaces; horizontal, lateral and vertical.

Sweden experienced a decline in exports of 16 percent in the period after the financial crisis. The decline has created a lot of question marks regarding the traditional exports which has started a process with the aim of finding Sweden?s next cash cow in export.Sweden adopted stringent environmental laws early which positioned them as a strong nation in environmental awareness. The stringent environmental legislation meant that the Swedish companies were required to minimize the environmental impact, which created a demand for eco-efficient products. Despite the early demand for eco-efficient products, the international success of the Swedish cleantech companies has been modest.The government can increase firms international competitiveness by encouraging, supporting and promoting activities on the domestic market.

The aim of this thesis was to use qualitative approaches to show how teachers in primary school reason on their way to meet and communicate with children who have ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). Research questions of the study were as follows: How does teachers in primary school reason about their way to communicate with children with ADHD? Do the teachers use some specific methods or means of communication with students who have ADHD? Do the teachers reason about their way how to handle conflicts with students who have ADHD? I collected my empirical material through a qualitative interview method. My theoretical starting points were interaction theory and the socio-cultural perspective. I have used these theories to analyze my material.

Today's society is characterized by constant changes. In order to adapt to the development, organizations must continuously come up with innovations and invest in new projects. As a result, the responsibility of organizations' leaders has increased. Parallel with this development, more and more firms incorporate mindfulness in the organizations, and many managers choose to practice mindfulness themselves. This case study is based on interviews with business leaders that have completed a course in mindfulness.

This master thesis was initiated with the aim to answer at what level of installed capacity of wind power in the northern parts of Sweden it would be beneficial to improve the transmission capacity from the northern Sweden. During the process of this work the aim has changed to try and create a model that can be used to analyze how well the hydro power installed in the northern Sweden can even out the quick changes in wind power production.To create a good model of all hydro power in northern Sweden is a very large job, unfortunately too large for a master thesis. This report therefore ends with an extensive analysis of the simplifications that have been made and their effects as well as a list of the future work that has to be done.The model that has been created have shown to be effective and produce good results. The conclusions that can be made is that the northern Swedish hydro power have very good possibilities to balance the wind power production. Only a few cases where water have been spilled even though there has been some free capacity has been discovered.

Background: From the beginning of the 60´s until the beginning of the 80´s the swedish local government has expand enourmously. The expansion didn´t lead to any discussions about how the local government should be controlled or organized. The local government should instead be organized and controlled as administrations. Lately it has became more usual to have these discussions about how local government should be controlled and organized. Nowadys it´s not unusual that local governments imitate private companies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the driving forces and barriers which may exist at the implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) within public organizations. Suggestions that may increase or reduce driving forces and barriers to public activities will also be provided, where such is found. The background of the study is that the public sector is such a major customer for many companies / providers, which makes the sector able to highly affect its suppliers. This essay is based on literature studies. The results showed that GSCM is a relatively unexplored area, especially applied on the public sector.

In this essay I want to investigate how the poodle strategy affects a person?s credibility when he or she uses it. The poodle strategy is a strategy, which someone uses when he or she is scrutinized by the media. It?s primary purpose is to suppress further media coverage but it is also a strategy for defending oneself and hence rescuing one?s reputation either as a private person or as an official.The essay?s research questions are:How has the strategy been applied for defensive purposes and what are the results?To which extent can the Stasis theory and Benoit?s theory on Apologia be connected to the strategy?Does the strategy affect the user?s credibility?To answer these questions four cases from the political sphere in Sweden where persons have been said to have ?done a poodle? have been analyzed.

This thesis seeks to explain the effect of private equity ownership on the amount of invest- ments made in a company. We use three capital expenditure based key ratios to determine if there is a tendency for private equity owned firms to invest more or less than comparable companies. Our dataset involve 27 Swedish buyout companies that were sold by a private equity fund between 2001 and 2009. Each buyout is assigned a peer group of two firms in similar size and in the same industry. Firstly, we compare the key ratios to determine potential differences in the level of investment.

Transfer pricing including internal loans have increased in recent years, making it easier for companies to minimize their taxable income. After the Swedish court case Diligentia, there have been discussions regarding the influence of a parent company's transparency and control of the subsidiary with regards to the interest rates on internal loans. In court cases that followed Diligentia, the Swedish Tax Agency argued that a parent company always could be assumed to have sufficient transparency and control of the operations in the subsidiary, and therefore reduce the risk on their debt obligations. This thesis seeks to analyze the effects of the transparency and control a parent company has with regards to interest rates on internal loans. The analysis is conducted by analyzing court cases similar to Diligentia.

The aim of this study has been to investigate students? understanding of fractions when they occur in the practical subject home economics. In order to investigate this, the learning study method was used. Learning study can be understood as a method to gain deeper understanding of what is learnt by students during a lesson to increase learning outcome.The variation theory framework has been utilized to analyze the results of this study. The object of learning was chosen to be addition of fractions bigger than one half when they appear in home economics.

This study is an investigation of newly arrived young Iraqis and their view on obstacles and opportunities available in a secondary school in Södertälje City. This is also a comparative study between the newly arrived Iraqis schooling in Iraq and in Sweden. We have used theoretical concepts such as culture, ethnicity, refugee, intercultural education, socialization and PTSD. These have helped us to provide distinct guidelines when we analyze newly arrived young Iraqis in Södertälje City. Our approach has been based on qualitative interviews with both students and teachers.

English title: Is a literary canon necessary? A comparative study based on seven senior high school teachers´ different approaches towards the place of canon in the education of Swedish. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how seven senior high school teachers relate to a literary canon in Swedish while teaching literature in senior high school, identifying similarities and differences among the teachers? view and opinions about an outspoken formal literary canon and a silent, informal canon.The earlier research opens the door slightly to the American debate and gives insight about the complexity of the concept of canon. The study continues with exploring possible relations to postcolonial theory and didactics.    The study reveals that the majority of the concerns against canon are that too much centrally governed education may decrease the motivation and commitment of the teacher. In addition, the dominant canon passivizes a certain variety of literature, thus various points of views. On the other hand, views on the equalizing effect of canon on the level of education and its benefits in increased knowledge of the history of the literature are salient. .