This is a tale about energy and power. It describes the geographer Halford Mackinder?s geopolitical theories and compares them with current views outlined by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Michael T Klare, among others. With a critical approach it also provides a historical account of a Europe that stands in front of an energy struggle so severe that the current world order seems destined to fall. Oil and natural gas, has since the beginning of the 20th century, been used as a geopolitical tool in order to create dependence, control and even sometimes overthrow empires.

This report is the result of a diploma work made at IMT at US in Linköping. The purpose of this piece of work is to investigate the possibility to design a general program for data-acquisition using LabVIEW, suiting different hardwares and connections. Great importance has been attached to communication with serialport, using bluetooth, because different wireless PPG-instruments has been developed parallel to this project. These PPG-circuits uses this type of serialcommunication. Communication with USB, GPIB and analog connection has also been examined and analog communication has been tested practically.

Informationssäkerhet är ett område som kommit att sättas alltmer i fokus hos organisationer. Tidigare har främst tekniska lösningar för att skydda viktig information fått uppmärksamhet, det är först på senare tid som informationssäkerhet har börjat uppfattas som ett komplext område som innefattar såväl tekniska, som organisatoriska och mänskliga faktorer. För att eftersträva en god informationssäkerhet inom organisationen bör ett grundligt arbete läggas på att utveckla informationssäkerhetspolicys och säkerhetsansvariga måste kontinuerligt utbilda och skapa medvetenhet hos anställda kring vilka hot som finns mot organisationen ifall informationssäkerhetsbestämmelser inte efterlevs.Huvudsyftet i föreliggande studie har varit att undersöka vilka faktorer som styr anställdas efterlevnad av informationssäkerhetspolicys. Ytterligare delsyfte har varit att undersöka hur den faktiska efterlevnaden av informationssäkerhetsbestämmelser avspeglar sig inom två vårdverksamheter i Landstinget i Östergötland. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har fallstudier genomförts där såväl observationer som intervjuer med personal legat till grund för datainsamlingen.Resultatet visar att säkerhetsmedvetandet och efterlevnaden av säkerhetsbestämmelser inom de undersökta organisationerna är tämligen god, men det finns skillnader i graden av efterlevnad.

The specific task of this thesis is to illustrate the complexity of a cooperation between civilian and military entities by examining Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and their role as an actor among others in the field in a war-torn Afghanistan.By using counterinsurgency strategy as an analytical framework it has been possible to examine the civilian and military contexts closer. Underlying structures concerning the norms and interpretation of reality of the PRTs has been partly revealed. Studies of the PRTs as one significant bearers of "the comprehensive approach", which includes a holistic approach regarding the use of civilian and military capabilities, new conclusions can be drawn on whether a general civil-military approach can be a part of the solution for current and future conflicts. Based on the counterinsurgency strategy, the author has identified three themes as bearing and thus appears through the thesis as a foundation. These are Coordination, Development and Security.

Background: Touching exists in different forms and can be experienced through the skin. By touching oxytocin is released like a relaxing hormone which counteracts anxiety and depression. Therapeutic contact and healing touch are methods nurses? uses to give positive feeling of serenity, warmth and wellbeing for the patients. Touching can be a method for communication and happiness when word is not enough.

Syftet med denna rapport är att göra en förstudie vid campus Norrköping rörande trådlöst nätverk. Det finns många olika standarder och tekniker. Vi har valt att rikta in oss på 802.11b då det är den som används mest. Trådlösa nätverk är ett bra komplement till vanliga kabelburna nätverk då det är flexibelt, relativt billigt och lätt att installera. Användningsområden för denna typ av nätverk är bland annat företag, hemmamiljö och allmänna platser såsom hotell och flygplatser, där människor kan förvandla improduktiv väntetid till effektiv arbetstid.

Assisted living is a relatively new form of housing that received a government definition in 2007 in conjunction with a government appointed investigation of future alternative accommodation for senior citizens. The type of accommodation is intended for seniors who have the need for increased security, which may be a consequence of that they feel anxious or lonely. It concerns ordinary homes with qualities that suit needs of seniors. There is no allowance from the local municipality required in order for seniors to apply for these homes and so assisted living should not be confused with nursing homes/ sheltered housing. The purpose of this study is to identify success factors for a winning concept for assisted living in the Gothenburg region, on behalf of Skanska Project development.

AbstractDespite that e-business nowadays is established scepsis against it amongst consumers exists. We, as consumers, suppose that this skepticism is caused by bad communication from the e-business companies. This has lead to our suggestion that some con-sumers refrain from e-business because of bad communication or deficient trust.Our purpose with this paper was to investigate factors of communication between companies and consumers within e-business (B2C) from the consumers? point of view. We thereby have drawn conclusions regarding consumers? choice of e-business company.

The aim of this study is to investigate what kind of support unaccompanied children needs when arriving in Sweden, according to the staff that is receiving unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Sweden. The method is qualitative and is based on interviews and previous research. The result shows that the main subjects who were of interest from the interviews are elementary need, the support offered, security, ?parental gestalt?, education, leisure, obstacles in the work.All the interviewees describe young people's needs very different when it differs from person to person. The support children receive is the most important factor that unaccompanied children need to be developed and get a better and safer life.

The aim of this master?s thesis in administrative law has been to study the property owners' legal rights when a third party impacts on the property. The essay is based on several case studies of landowners in central Sweden which has the purpose of forming a background to the legal studies of this field. The framework for current studies builds therefore on landowners' experiences of impairment and damages on their property and has been added to highlight a current problem that exists in central Sweden. The purpose of the study is therefore to see whether a protection in law is imposed on landowners with such problems as the land ownership study shows.

Uppsatsen är en komparativ studie om försvarsbeslut 1925 och försvarsbeslut 2004. Jag testar två teorier mot dessa två försvarsbeslut, det är realismen och liberalismen. Det jag vill få fram genom uppsatsen är att se likheterna och skillnaderna i de båda besluten inom ett säkerhetspolitiskt perspektiv..

Africa is expected to go through a rapid urbanization over the next four decades and the demand for food is increasing in the rapidly growing urban and peri-urban (UPU) areas. Keeping livestock in urban areas is in particular associated with health hazards. This is due to close interaction between humans and animals, and it has been shown that zoonotic diseases are increasing in urban areas. The benefits of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) are related to improved food security, in particular among low-income groups. Apart from the negative public health impact of zoonotic diseases, animal disease could have a devastating impact on the economy and food security of many households in these areas. In the present study, three important endemic diseases, including brucellosis, salmonellosis and Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), were analyzed in regard to seroprevalence and risk factors.

This thesis discusses the global regime complex concerning the management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and how different regimes concerning these resources cooperate or stand in opposition to each other. Because of changes in US patent law and the establishment of TRIPS, patent claims over plant genetic resources has increased dramatically globally. This, amongst other things, in turn has lead to the development of CBD which in turn lead to the creation of access and benefit laws in many countries. To create a free flow of genetic resources for food and agriculture the ITPGRFA, with its multilateral system, were negotiated. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which consequences the regime complex concerning plant genetic resources for food and agriculture can have on the rights of small farmers, agricultural research and food security in the global South.

There is an ongoing discussion amongst Swedish politicians about how the Swedish police will be able to handle increased organised criminality represented in the growing threats of terrorism. In May 2006 representatives from the seven parties of the Swedish parliament debated the question whether the Swedish security service and Swedish police should be permitted to use increased surveillance with the purpose of preventing severe criminality.The question of increased surveillance is a matter often connected to matters of personal privacy. The aim of this master?s thesis is to study which arguments are being used for and against the proposed law that would permit surveillance with the purpose of preventing crime, as well as examine members of Parliaments view on privacy.The methodology used in this thesis is both argumentation analysis and rhetoric analysis. These two tools are used to examine the minutes from a parliamentary debate about the bill mentioned earlier.

The project is a practical and theoretical test of IP telephony with Skype in order to form a base for a comparison between IP-Telephony with Skype and the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN). PSTN is the common standard that most of us use for telephony today. The objective for the study is to simplify the choice between PSTN and IP-Telephony for the Swedish private customer user group. The project is supposed to answer the following questions. - How easy is it to start using IP-telephony with Skype? - How is the quality of IP-telephony compared to PSTN? - Are all services provided by PSTN available and accessible using the IP-solution? - How are the usability and the availability of support with IP telephony? - Is IP-telephony a cheaper solution and in that case under which circumstances? Within the project a collection of practical and theoretical tests have been performed to be able to form an opinion on the IP-solution in the following areas, installation, function, quality, usability, costs, accessibility and security.