The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge and a broader understanding for how pre-school teachers describe the importance of planned play environments including in what manner children are given influence. By qualitative interviews with five pre-school teachers from four different units I was able to gather data that shows how the planning process concerning a specific play environment had worked and why it looked as it did. The results show among other things that the pre-school teachers viewed the play environment as a vital part of the daily operation and pointed out that it was of vital importance that it came from the children?s interests. Depending on how the play environment had been organized and what its purpose was it offered different amounts of affordances..

Tail-biting in pigs is an animal welfare issue and in Sweden during 2002 the producers lost tree million Swedish crowns because of tail biting. This economic loss depends on the pigs which are discarded at slaughter because of tail biting. Tail biting can be separated into two stages, "pre-injury" and "injury". The aim of this study is to investigate if tail biting depends on environment or genetic background.A lot of research on the environments effects on the behaviour of pigs but not so much on the genetic effects has been performed. The frequency of tail biting in pig farms influence among others of environment enrichment, ventilation, gender and breed of the pig.

Dooria Sweden AB is one of the main door- and doorframe manufacturers inSweden. They deliver door frames for indoor use for project oriented buildingsites, for these types of building sites the doorpost comes pre-assembled. DooriaAB wants to minimize transport to reduce impact on environment and thetransportation costs of pre-assembled doorframes, this thru simplifying themethod of assembly.The main purpose of this thesis has been to develop a prototype solution thatbrings the three parts of the doorframe together with the same properties regardingstability and tightness of joints as the current method of assembly. A profile ofdemands and wishes were created in collaboration with Mårten Dragstedt, DeputyDirector of Dooria Sverige ABBy following the chosen method the authors have been able to produce a fullyfunctional prototype that meet the demands that were put on the product. Catia V5R20 has been used as an aid during prototype construction and virtual tests.

New technology and urban sprawl have resulted in almost half of the population in Sweden being insufficiently physically active. The sedentary lifestyle causes heart- and vascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, stress etc. in the population. One of the biggest priorities in the society is to promote more physical activity. Through literature studies and a questionnaire this paper will examine how we can design the built environment in order to promote physical exercise and if we can change the sedentary lifestyle with a outdoor environment that invite physical exercise. There are both internal and external factors that have importance for people?s physical activity.

AbstractThe Swedish school is the biggest place of work in the country. Statistics about the Swedish school shows that both students and teachers work in an environment who has elements of violations, threats and violence, and study environments where many students do not feel they have a study environment during class. The purpose with this study has been to investigate if teachers and principals is given the right conditions in their respective educations to pursue their professional profession to achieve the objectives of the goals with the systematic safety and work environment of the school's safety concerns. The study has been designed as an investigation about respective educations syllabus and has been examined by the presence about systematic safety and knowledge about work environment law in respective courses. The examination about respective educations syllabus has been done by a qualitative content analysis.

Climate change is a phenomenon that know no boundaries. While focus on environment and climate change has become highly prioritized, nationalism has spread across Europe. Nationalism is by many considered to refuse action to combat climate change although some argue that nationalism could combat global climate change. Previous research on how nationalism is implemented in environment and climate politics has mainly focused on single parties. The thesis therefore aims to give a broad approach and compare how nationalism is used in environment and climate politics by analyzing 4 European parties with either ethnic or civic nationalism and different roles in their party system. With a qualitative content analysis on party programs and election manifestos the findings imply that parties use nationalism in the climate and environment discourse in a variety of ways.

Background: Last year (2006) has been a year when the environmental issues figured more often in the media, and the environmental awareness among common people increased. Environmental climate reports have lately been on the headline all over the world. As a result of the increasing population in the world, it?s becoming more important to be aware of the environment. To do that, it is important to maximize the efficiency in the work with the environment.

The aim of the Master?s Thesis work is to study and develop algorithms for autonomous travel of a UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle). A vehicle for the mounting of sensors has been constructed in order to perform the work. Since the UGV is to be used outdoor in urban areas, GPS can be used. To improve precision and robustness, inertial navigation is used in addition to GPS, since GPS reception is likely to be diminished in such areas.

Tail-biting in pigs is an animal welfare issue and in Sweden during 2002 the producers lost tree million Swedish crowns because of tail biting. This economic loss depends on the pigs which are discarded at slaughter because of tail biting. Tail biting can be separated into two stages, "pre-injury" and "injury". The aim of this study is to investigate if tail biting depends on environment or genetic background.A lot of research on the environments effects on the behaviour of pigs but not so much on the genetic effects has been performed. The frequency of tail biting in pig farms influence among others of environment enrichment, ventilation, gender and breed of the pig.

Abstract   Study: Degree project in teacher education, Advanced level, 15 hpUniversity of Skövde.Title: ?The aim is for them to manage as much as possible on their own? ? a qualitative study of preschools´ indoor environment as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children.Number of pages: 31Author: Jenny Karlsson, Marie PerssonTuto: Gunvi BrobegDate: 2009-01-28 Keywords: Independence, indoor environment, preschool, pedagouge This study aims at examining the indoor environment of three different preschools as a pedagogical tool for the independence of children. Is the design of the premises adapted to the height of the children? Can they themselves reach the material they need and is it possible for them to reach their outdoor clothes or do they constantly have to ask for help? In order to acquire a deeper understanding of the different views of the three preschools, the question is asked: what are the pedagogues thoughts of the indoor environment of their own preschool in the perspective of childrens independence and what affects their choice of furnishing, planning etc? The preschool curriculum clearly states that the children must be given the opportunity to develop their independence. We have experianced that the pedagogues feel that they are unable to plan the environment as they wish and thus, interest is also pointed towards the question: are there any limiting factors that affect the design of the indoor environment, and, that being the case, which are they? The study is based on qualitative observations and interviews because it is in its interest to discern patterns and categories rather than quantity.

The purpose of this study was to examine and try to understand the physical environment focusing on the fenomena of scribble and damage at a high school. More specifically its aim was to find out how the pupils themselves discribe their physical environment, the reasons why there are scribble and damage at their school and how they are treated by the adults at the school bearing in mind the scribble and damage that occur. The study took place at one high-school in the southern of Sweden and the methods used were six qualitative interviewes, a minor inquiry in six classes, fotographing the physical environment and putting up scribble boards on the pupils' toilets. The physcial environment was quite bare and monoton and the pupils often felt bored by it. There were few places where the pupils liked being at.

Background: A company?s choice of capital structure is influenced by the access to internal and external capital but also by the opportunities and threats that the management perceives in the environment and the management?s attitude towards risk. How an individual perceives and interpret the environment depends on the cognitive structures, which are shaped by personality, background and earlier experiences. Accordingly cognitive structures can be expected to influence the choice of capital structure. Purpose: Out of a cognitive perspective we intend to study the relationship between the way a company views it?s environment and what capital structure it chooses to have, in order to contribute to an increased understanding about what lies behind a company?s capital structure policy.

In a business environment where the stakeholder perspective is evolving and sustainable development is receiving increased attention, it is of importance for companies to adjust. The demand and pressure is exerted from several stakeholders who force companies to take action and live up to the expectations because if failing to do so, negative consequences will most likely be the case. The attention of this study is on ABB Power Products (ABB PP) and their environment and working environment risk management. The aim of this thesis is to identify and describe how perceived environmental risks are managed and what the incentives are to work proactively to minimize the risks. The incentives for a proactive risk management strategy are researched through both a strategic and operational perspective.

With a starting point in the legislation for organic production set up by the Swedishcertification organization KRAV, the reasons to why these regulations are important isexplained and how pigs are affected by these rules. The study also shows how well the pigscope in the organic environment considering the origin of the genetic material; from theconventional pig population. The conclusion is that pigs do function fairly well in the organicproduction environment and the traits affecting their functionality involve: motheringabilities, strong legs, good meat quality, good sow durability and longevity, capacity to eatmuch roughage and dark skin color. There are however still many ways of improving theorganic population of pigs to make them more adjusted to the organic environment; forexample different traits brought into the breeding goals and the choice of good parent animals..

Background: The parent has a natural presence in today?s child health care and hospital treatment. The transition from home to a care institution has an impact on the parent. Previous research shows that over time the conditions and the parent?s role in child and youth health care have changed extensively.