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.

Globalization is described as processes of economic, social and political character and a tendency in the field has been to study these aspects of the phenomenon separately. Another common feature of previous studies is to relate to the field at a high abstraction level and talk about the effects and changes in general terms. Such studies of quantitative and statistical nature in which people are constituted as homogeneous groups hides the fact that the relationship between social attributes and context creates unique positions where the effects of globalization are diverse (Sprague, 2005, pp. 16 - 18). The purpose of this bachelor thesis is therefore to break with this entrance to the field and instead focus on a micro level perspective.By conducting a qualitative interview study guided by the globalization theory of the Globalife research team, which shows how structures at the macro level can be understood to affect the micro level, the aim is to reveal potential knowledge gaps within the field.

The main subject for this essay is victimization at work. The first question concerns victimization and the responsibility of the employer when bullying and harassments occur. The second question regards agreements between the employer and the employee, where the latter is paid to quit the employment because he or she is subjected to victimization, but also if any specific group of employees is especially affected. The purpose of the essay is to create understanding and clarification within current law, but also awareness of the possibilities where employers can create agreements with employees in order to make them finish their employments. In order to manage finding information some labour market parties were asked questions about their experiences of victimization at work and agreements among their members or employees.

The formation of sovereign states in regional blocks has become an essential feature in the world system. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate which motives and driving forces that affect the creation of projects of regional integration outside Europe and the Western World. By choosing the Latin American project of integration ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas) as a case of regional integration outside Europe and the Western World, the study investigates the motives expressed by the most prominent actors of the project, Venezuela and Cuba. ALBA is chosen as a representative and a unique case and through the consumption of the gramscian and the realist approaches, the essay defines two motives that affect the creation of projects of regional integration. As a way of investigating the actors? motives, the paper studies political statements, especially those of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and official positions expressed in central documents and declarations.

Background and problem: The background to this study is the organizations increased difficulty to retain employees in the organization when more and more employees today choose to do their career in several organizations. The problem to keep the employees in the organization leads to several problems where the loss of experience reduces efficiency and increased risks and cost associated with recruitment are some problems that arise. The problem therefore faced for this study is: How can opportunities for career development within an organization created to get employees to stay over time?Purpose and method: The purpose for this study is to describe how organizations can create opportunities for the development of career that gets employees to stay within the same organization and make their career in this organization. The method used for this study is a qualitative approach where data is collected through semi-structured interviews in a case study.Empiricism: The empirical result have shown there are four factors that an organization should overhaul to create an opportunity for the development of a career that gets employees to stay in an organization over time.

The aim of this study is, from a norm-critical approach, to find, investigate and analyse human representation in the visual culture of one preschool in order to understand if the children enrolled are represented or not. The research questions are: In what ways is there imagery of human representations in images and materials designed for play? What skin-colors and origins are dominant in the data collected?We carried out a qualitative study in the form of visual ethnography. This method allowed us to use a combination of different data collection tools such as photography and ethnographic field notes to collect our data. The photographs we took of images and material used for play, was then analysed through semiotic picture analysis.

Piled friction soil show a set-up which is increasing with the time after installation. The cost could be reduced if the set-up had been taken into account when designing but in Sweden it is very unusual to do that. Previous studies showed that set-up can vary between 25 % and 75 % during the first 90 days after pile installation. This showed that the effect of the phenomenon is difficult to predict. A study involving five projects have been carried out by specifying certain parameters like pile type, method for pile installation and test method for measure the bearing capacity in friction soils located in Sweden.

Bachelor thesis, Trolley Innovation Project, has been unique in the sense that it has been carried out over the borders of Sweden. Iacobucci S.p.A, located outside of Rome in Italy is one of the largest manufacturers of interior equipment for aircraft in the world. With approximately 30% of the market Iacobucci S.p.A is one of the world's largest manufacturers of catering trolleys.The aim has been to produce a new competitive catering trolley for the airline industry. With customers and users in focus, the project team found that weight, ease of use, ergonomics and design were important aspects. Having a low weight of all the interior is particularly important when there is lots of money for the airlines to save in reduced fuel costs.

AbstractHow do we remember? What do we remember? How does the memory change over time? These are the main questions in this essay.Five persons, who have lived or are still living in the old parish Rystad, situated seven kilometers from the town Linkoping south of Lake Roxen, have participated in interviews. They have been given the possibility to present their oral history which has been recorded and later transmitted to texture. The participants represent different social backgrounds and professions and they were born between the years 1920 ? 1936.

The trotting in Sweden has a good reputation in an international view, both in the perspective of success and how the sport is managed with focus on security, animal protection and animal welfare. A large number of equipment details are fitted on the horses during training and competition. The Swedish law of prevention of cruelty to animals regulate training and competition with racehorses, and propose to protect horses from unnecessary suffering. The equipment permitted in races is regulated in Tävlingsreglementet (The Regulation of Competititon) and in the regulations of equipment, that the Nordic Regulation Committee and Nordic Animal Welfare Committee have worked out. Due to training and competition the equipment must even meet the Swedish law of prevention of cruelty to animals. However, the behaviour or the senses of the horses is often affected by the equipment due to the way the equipment corrects, modifies, restrains or reduces the behaviour of the horse, which may cause the horse stress or discomfort.

Today more effective computer programs are in use, regarding design of geotechnicalconstructions. There is a risk that the theoretical background of the computerprograms, its limitations and the signification of the choice of soil parameter isforgotten when the computer programs become more user-friendly.This Master thesis deals with simulation and analysis regarding three computerprograms, FEM-design, with the addition Raft, Plaxis and BE-slab. Comparisons aremade for settlement and maximum moment in a concrete-plate. FEM-design is a threedimensional FEM-program, foremost created for design engineers. Plaxis is a twodimensional FEM-program, intended for geotechnical engineers while BE-Slab is aBoundary elements program in two dimensions that is mainly used by designengineers.

This thesis describes the work process and the results for the development of a newkind of ergonomic cleaning mop, ranging from basic concept to a virtually productionready digital prototype. The project was made in cooperation with, Ömer Altun, whowas also the project supervisor, and whose plan it is to launch this new product onthe market in a foreseeable future. The mop is meant to be used by both professionalcleaning staff and ordinary home users. What makes this product unique is that it hasa movable center piece that simplifies the cleaning under low furniture.The work began with the establishment of a product requirements specification andlater a study of similar products and existing functional models was conducted. Afterthese surveys the work began with refining the existing concepts in order to makethem more complete.

Wetlands are important ecosystems and form habitat for both common and threatened species. In Sweden, as well in many other places on earth, there is a lack of wetlands. There is an expressed will to adjust this lack through restoration of wetlands with reduced function and through construction of new wetlands. Follow-ups and evaluations are important steps to optimize these actions. The wetland Vattenparken was constructed 1999 ? 2000 for treatment of surface water.

Spectacular buildings and categorized districts are becoming more common elements in cities. In many cases, they are the result of city branding, which means choosing a city image and dealing with it like a brand to profile and compete against other cities. This essay study what impact on and roll in urban planning the trend might have. The first part relies on literary studies and describes what has been written about city branding. The globalization, the experience economy, urban management, urbanization and the theory of the creative class are pointed out as driving forces of the popularity and the spread of city branding.

Stockholm is considered as a tourist destination which has a lot of offers to attract tourists and if it utilizes it water better it can give a wonderful and unique experiences and cold baths may become an image to it.The aim of this study is to shed light on the open-air swimming-baths and shores of Stockholm. Also how to use this advantage as it?s a city based on many islands, the purest water in Europe and this makes Stockholm as a destination a very attractive place for tourism. For a better understanding of our study, we have studied the quality and quantity to see how people began to exploit open-air swimming-baths throughout history everywhere in Europe and specifically of Stockholm city sea shore. We did a study on the history traditions of open-air swimming-baths and how it can be a tourist attraction through books and interviews, scientific articles and our personal observation, so that we can analyze how to develop sustainable tourism in the future and how Stockholm city can make development of opportunities for the future.