Many of us have grown up hearing or using words meant as insults or negative adjectives that were in fact names for social groups. Most of them have gone unquestioned in the mainstream consciousness, but the term Gay in the generally negative meaning has in the past years been given attention as offensive and homophobic, with debates emerging in response over whether or not this is true, particularly on the internet. It is the articles and forum threads from these debates that make out the empirical material for a qualitative study as I ask what these people?s thoughts are about this term and how it is perceived.After a qualitative coding and analysis of these texts, and interpretation of the results based on Erving Goffman?s theory of Phantom acceptance and stigma terms, Judith Butler?s theory of performativity, Ferdinand de Sassure?s theory of signifier and signified and how it connects to the community and Baudrillards theory of simulacra, this is the principal conclusion that I have drawn:For some of the people in this debate, the term Gay and its use is about homophobia and heterosexism, though mostly it?s not overt but a subconscious part of the continued dehumanization and stigmatization of homo- and bisexual people. This is a position I callThe socially focused skepticism.

Title: A new battle, the same bottle: A case study of the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it?s positioned towards different market segments.Author: Anna von Friedrichs Grängsjö & Niklas SvanlindhTutor: Jessica GustafssonPurpose: To overview the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it?s positioned towards different market segments. Absolut Vodka is a brand that reaches a vast range of consumers through a single consistent marketing strategy. The hypothesis was that one can reach many different market segments with the marketing of a product by constantly keeping some components of the communication the same while constantly changing others. Key questions to be answered are: How do Absolut Vodka address their target audiences in their visual communication? Which market segments does the visual communication of Absolut Vodka seem to address?Method/Material: The research was conducted through a qualitative research study in which four Youtube videos by Absolut Vodka were analyzed.

The aim of this thesis is to assess the strategic importance of Central Asia as a whole and interests of great powers in the region in particular within the theoretical framework chosen. The work shows Central Asia as an area of the New Great Game, analogue of the original Great Game which was played out between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia in XIX century. The parallels between the original Great Game and the New Great Game are drawn in order to understand the scope and the true intentions of the players of the latter one. Also, the security issues in the contemporary Central Asia are explored and analyzed to provide with the background for future predictions. Furthermore, the indirect purpose of the thesis is to examine whether the international system has changed from that of two centuries ago by comparing the structure of the international systems at the time of two Games.

Nature conservation agreement (NCA) is a way to voluntarily protect and manage nature for limited time-periods. The agreement is settled between the government and a landowner. All public authorities can represent the government but it is only the Swedish Forest Administration who does that regularly (because it is the only authority with economic resources for that purpose). Therefore, NCAs are almost only used to protect forested nature. The government agencies have experienced NCAs for about ten years and it is now time to examine how they are applied in the forests. This study is based on a computerized questionnaire to the persons responsible for the LEKO-projekt.

Theability to beat the market is one of the most discussed topics in finance. Thereare very few investors that manage to accomplish this over longer periods oftime. Most of the financial research claims that this is impossible unless theinvestor increase the risk in the portfolio. However numerous of researchershave shown that it exist anomalies on the stock market which either indicatesthat the Capital Asset Pricing Modell (CAPM) or Fama and French three-factormodel fails to explain stock returns or that the market is not fully efficient.One investor that has claimed that the stock market is not fully efficient andthat it is possible to generate abnormal return is Benjamin Graham. Graham isone of the legends on Wall Street and he has shown that by using few variablesbased on public information, one can manage to beat the market over longer timeperiods.There arejust a few studies that have tested Graham?s criteria?s, however all of themindicates that they work but that the standard deviation might be higher forthe portfolios.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is one of the leading causes of acute encephalitis in humans. The virus is spread by mosquitoes, mainly belonging to the Culex species. The main reservoirs are considered to be birds and pigs, with pigs constituting the most important reservoir in regard to human infection. During the last few decades the production of pork has increased significantly in Vietnam. With 90% of pigs being kept in households owning 10 pigs or less, pigs are widely spread across most parts of the country.

This essay is about the asylum and immigration politics within the EU. Due to the heavy criticism the EU has been exposed to from among others different kind of human rights organizations I have become interested to find out what kind of asylum and migration politics right now is being formed by the member states of the union. Thus the purpose is also to see if the EU is creating a policy within this area that intends to live up to the human rights obligations.My overall research question is:Which ideas characterize the asylum and immigration politics within the EU?The theoretical perspectives of universalism and particularism are used as two analytical tools in order to understand the phenomenon I am investigating and to identify its characterizing ideas. In my essay universalism and particularism are used as opposite ideal types.

Handling, loading, transport time and unloading in connection to transport of farm animals affect animal welfare. Induced effects include both psychological and physiological stress responses in animals. The physiological parameters may be measured through blood analysis while behavioural changes often manifest themselves through increased vocalisation, escape attempts and apathy. Physiological parameters are additional parameters of importance when measuring animal stress responses. The handlers behavior during transport has been shown to have major impact on animal welfare and the quality of meat. Animal friendly handling and driving of animals create a more manageable work environment for the handlers. To further increase animal welfare in connection to transport, stables should be built with well adapted drift passage and ramps on the transport vehicle.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the employees´ duty of loyalty to their employer when making statements on social media networks and if this opposes the employees´ right to freedom of speech. Another purpose of this thesis is to investigate freedom of speech from an EU juridical point of view. Also a discussion concerning gender issues on this subject takes place is presented in the thesis. The questions to answer the purpose of this thesis are the following: Where is the line drawn for what an employee can publish on a social media network without breaching their duty of loyalty towards their employer?, and How does an employee´s freedom of speech relate to these types of statements on a social media network? The method used for this thesis is the classical legal method.The legal inquiry shows that duty of loyalty is a hidden clause in all employment contracts, and it must be respected by the employee.

Work, especially that in complex, dynamic workplaces, often requires subtle, local judgment with regard to timing of subtasks, relevance, importance, prioritization and so forth. Still, people in Nuclear Industry seem to think safety results from people just following procedures. In the wake of failure it can be tempting to introduce new procedures and an even stricter "rule following culture". None, or at least very little, attention is given to tacit knowledge and individual skills. I am aiming to highlight the inadequacy of putting too much trust in formalization and that reporting and trending of events will contribute to increased learning, an increased nuclear safety and an efficient operational experience.

The economic development and industrialization that has taken place in many parts of the world during the past century has brought about a huge increase in economic welfare. During this process, it has repeatedly been debated whether the gains from economic development are shared by everyone or just a few. In the field of economics, vast research has been conducted on this particular subject ever since the 1950?s. The most famous contribution might be said to be Simon Kuznets article, Growth and Income Inequality from 1955 and the ?inverted U?-hypothesis that was formulated on the basis of that article.

The economic development and industrialization that has taken place in many parts of the world during the past century has brought about a huge increase in economic welfare. During this process, it has repeatedly been debated whether the gains from economic development are shared by everyone or just a few. In the field of economics, vast research has been conducted on this particular subject ever since the 1950?s. The most famous contribution might be said to be Simon Kuznets article, Growth and Income Inequality from 1955 and the ?inverted U?-hypothesis that was formulated on the basis of that article.

European cities of today are under the challenge to find ways to stay competitive and flourish in a rapidly changing world, where the old patterns of centrality and periphery not necessarily holds true. New and improved communication networks, a changed political geography in Europe, and the globalisation of not only the financial and industrial markets but also to a certain extent the globalisation of people, have all led to great challenges for cities and regions.In a changed spatial reality the classic monocentric models are challenged by newer models of urbanisation. The polycentric urban region is one such model which has been used to describe urban regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands and the Rhein-Ruhr region in Germany. Regions which lack the single dominant central city of the monocentric models of old, and instead shows a high degree of more equal-sized and sometimes more specialised cities in regional cooperation. The polycentric urban region is in that aspect a possible model for how other urbanised regions in Europe may act to be able to position themselves as attractive urban regions and regional hubs in the European urban network.Polycentric urban regions are not a universal solution, though.

Game fields are one way to divert animals away from sensitive areas, create shelter and forage, and also to increase the biological diversity. In this study I investigated how the plant composition in six different crop mixes used for game fields affected the biomass production, biomass consumption and biological diversity at the Koberg estate in southwestern Sweden. Six experimental fields were used and each field contained six plots, approximately 1500 m2 each, that was sown with a different crop mix. The crop mixes ranged from a pure grass mix (A), 70 % grass and 30 % leguminous plants (B), 53 % grass, 21 % leguminous plants and 26 % other herbs (C), 100 % leguminous plants (D) to the most complex mixes constituting of 91 % leguminous plants and 9 % other herbs (E) and 87 % leguminous plants and 13 % other herbs (F). The fields were cut weekly during the summer in 2010, to estimate weekly biomass production.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Effects of isoflavone supplementation from soybeans on LDL-cholesterol levels in adultAuthors: Malin Blomgren Alegria and Ruut ReivaaraSupervisor: Lena HulthénExaminer: Frode SlindeProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: 2013-04-08Background: One of the most common causes of death in Sweden is due to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke. Hypercholesterolemia is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In Asia, hypercholesterolemia is less common than in the Western countries. In Asian countries, soy products are consumed in larger quantities than in the Western world, which has led to implemented research with the intention of examining soy's potential effect on cholesterol levels.Objective: To investigate whether there is scientific evidence that isoflavone supplementation from soy bean may have a lowering effect on LDL-cholesterol.Search strategy: The databases used for the systematic literature search were PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane. Keywords used were cholesterol and 9 versions of this, and isoflavones and 11 versions of that.Selection criteria: RCT articles, on humans, written in English, published from 2011 onwards, that focused on interventions with isoflavones from soybeans and its effect on blood cholesterol, the participants were over 18 years old and the study time was at least 24 weeks.