This report is the product of the course AF101X, a bachelors degree in Samhällsbyggnad atKTH. The task of the course is to design a small house at a given location and also implement adeepening study. The house in this report is located in Kiruna in the north of Sweden, where theclimate is much colder than in the rest of the country.The deepening study of this report is to evaluates how realistic passive housing north of thePolar Circle is based on those facts. The house will to some extent be designed to fit the passivehousing standard.

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse a group of young adults? childhood experiences of the intervention "contact family". The used methods were qualitative interviews and a standardised formulary with life questions, to strengthen the interviews and to compare data. The theoretical frame was taken from Bronfenbrenner?s child development theory and Antonovsky?s salutogenic perspective, which we supplemented with Hilchen Sommerschild?s theory about the "conditions of control".

In this thesis proposals for different designs of a borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) have been developed for the building DN-huset in Stockholm, Sweden. To build a BTES results in savings in energy costs by approximately 44 %, i.e. 2 million Swedish crowns annually. Furthermore, a BTES would reduce the annual environmental impact with roughly 75-157 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year, depending on how the electricity consumption?s environmental impact is estimated.

In the year of 2001, China launched their new international marketing strategy Going Global. As an effect of this, the frequency of Chinese establishments in Sweden has increased heavily in the last ten years. One of the larger Chinese establishments in Sweden happened in 2003, by the telecom company Huawei. This essay illustrates the obstacles that a Chinese company faces when setting up their business on the Swedish market. Previous studies have focused on Swedish establishment abroad.

In this investigation has an attempt to find out whether so called transplanting shock depends on the moving and transplanting of trees, to other conditions, or if it is due to the imbalance between the root to shoot ratio. Seventy trees of Prunus avium have been part of the investigation and these trees have been divided into four different groups depending on methods of production, untouched on the field, trees still on the field but with root pruning, trees moved and planted into Root-Control-Bag, trees moved and planted into Spring-rings. To be able to answer the question, measurements of the length of the terminal shoots and the lateral shoots and the dimension of the stem growth have been done and also has a visual judgment of the trees vitality been performed. The result shows that it is not only the move of the trees that gives them transplanting shock, but rather the loss of roots which gives an imbalance between the root and crown..

Background: The meeting industry has had undergone a extensive changes due to a number of factors. The globalization has meant that supply increases and congress organizers have more options to choose from. Development in communications, for instance internet, means that meetings can take place without a physical presence. Congress organizers as clients have also changes. Stockholm as position as a leading city to hold congresses in has also changed for the worse, in 2006 Stockholm dropped of the top-10 list.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the game industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the game industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

Rabbits, Oryctolagos cuniculus, rapidly increases as pets. During the right circumstances, rabbits are friendly, social and playful. A rabbit who shows an abnormal behavior should always be examined by a veterinary, though there is almost always a medical problem. This essay is a result of a literature studie with the aim to find the prophylactic measures that may give pet rabbits a more healthy life. Rabbits have got a lot of common health problems, including dental, skin and gastrointestinal problems.

According to the theory of elitist democracy civic political participation should be reduced to participation in the democratic elections. This essay examines whether a high rate of institutionalized political participation beyond the elections leads to: (a) that those who are included gets a more favourable treatment at the expense of the common interest, in other words that their self interest threatens the political equality, (b) reduced freedom of action for the politicians and the headmasters, (c) the emergence of vague conditions of responsibility. These hypotheses are examined in an empirical study of user-boards at four schools on three locations in southern Sweden. In these user-boards the parents are in majority and have the right of decision, which has been delegated to them from the local government and the headmaster. The main conclusion is that, based on this empirical investigation, there is no support in any of the hypotheses.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

The fundamental prohibitions against anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position are set out in the EC Treaty, articles 81 and 82 respective CL 6 and 19 §. EU: s objectives can be said to promote economic and social development within the community. These objectives will be achieved, among other things, through the establishment of a common internal market. In order to achieve a common market, where companies from different nations compete on equal conditions, it is not enough to prevent the member states from distortion of competition in the market. The free competition and thereby the advantages the common market is assumed to create, can also be limited through measures taken by companies.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of the EU on Turkish democracy. In order to achieve this aim, the paper concentrates on three areas, as representative institutions, opposition parties and freedom of expression. The impact of the EU on Turkey has been more explicit during the last decades. In particular since 1999 when the country became a candidate for membership, and that will eventually lead to Turkey joining the European Union. Thereby this paper will examine the demands EU set up for the country and how Turkey accomplishes these criteria.

In this study we aim to investigate what employees at a callcenter see as prospects, opportunities and barriers of learning within a company. To answer the purpose of this essay, two questions were formulated; "What opportunities for learning does employees experience in the company?" and "How can learning in the workplace improve for the sellers?". First, we present what previous research has highlighted regarding workplace learning and learning within the callcenter industry. Afterwards we present ten semi-structured interviews with leaders and sellers within a telecom company in Stockholm.

Interaction is an important part of children?s development. The school is a main arena in which children learn to interact, mainly through their playing. This study aims at investigating the role of interaction in a leisure school didactic setting. The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding for how the pupils develop though use of social interaction.

The aim of this paper is to examine why Swedish teachers and multilingual secondary   school pupils think it is important to read fiction, how Swedish teachers work with fiction in the multicultural classroom and how they motivate their multilingual pupils to read more by adapting fiction to their capabilities and experiences. We have done interviews with four Swedish teachers and 12 multilingual pupils. The following questions are the starting point of this essay:Why do Swedish teachers and multilingual pupils think that it is important to read fiction?  ?How can the Swedish teachers in the multicultural classroom motivate their multilingual pupils to read more fiction?The result of this paper showed that both the Swedish teachers and the multilingual pupils thought it was important to read fiction because it partly gives themselves the opportunity to acquaint with other cultures and it helps them to improve their language. The teachers motivate their multilingual pupils by reading out loud, reading in groups and by minimizing language difficulties that may occur in the fiction.