Looking at the debate on nuclear power in Sweden, the issue of risk is central to understanding the difficulties in resolving differences between proponents and opponents. I sought to answer the research question: "how is the concept of risk constructed in the nuclear power debate in Sweden?" Four main aspects of risk construction were defined and investigated to identify differences between sides in the debate. Through a qualitative study of the debate and its actors I found clear differences in respect to all four aspects of risk construction. First, the perception of nuclear power as a "normal risk" is common among nuclear opponents in contrast to a largely probabilistic view among proponents.

This paper is about Soren Aabye Kierkegaards (1813-1855) philosophy regarding the relation between the aesthetic and the ethic stage. The result of the essay is a modification of the aesthetic problem. The suggestion is to convert part of Kierkegaard?s metaphysical claims into an epistemic approach. An epistemic approach means to hold a position of well grounded stipulative beliefs.

The aim of this bachelor-thesis is to study how postgraduates approach open access during times of change within scholarly communication. Our theoretical framework is based upon Knorr Cetinas epistemic cultures and Cullen & Chawners theory that there is a paradigmatic conflict within scholarly communication due to the fact that open access has failed to reach the same level of prominence among researchers as it has within research libraries. We interviewed six postgraduates at Malmö högskola in order to find answers to our research questions. We identified a shared epistemic culture among the postgraduates, which can be explained by the fact that being postgraduates, they all share similar experiences and values. We chose to call this epistemic culture the horizontal epistemic culture.

The following essay or thesis is a study over scientific endeavors in the fringe. It is a study of Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, whose proponents aim to make the UFO phenomenon (or phenomena) a subject of scientific scrutiny. To achieve this, the ufologists first have to redefine common concepts of ufology as pseudo science or religion, mainly by challenging definitions given by scientific sceptics on the one hand, and proponents of conspiracy theories or the new age environment on the other. Thus UFO-Sverige seeks to construct an alternative scientific identity in contrast to adversaries on both sides, each unwilling to give the UFO phenomenon any further examination. Following the work of Tomas Gieryn's sociological grip on questions of epistemology, especially concerning the social boundaries of science from other cultural categories through what has been labelled as epistemic boundary work, during which proponents of a particular field aim to achieve epistemic authority and thus the legitimate right to define what is and what is not science, I seek to analyze how questions of science and legitimacy are actualized in an intellectual environment or culture not broadly accepted as scientific.

The following essay or thesis is a study over scientific endeavors in the fringe. It is a study of Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, whose proponents aim to make the UFO phenomenon (or phenomena) a subject of scientific scrutiny. To achieve this, the ufologists first have to redefine common concepts of ufology as pseudo science or religion, mainly by challenging definitions given by scientific sceptics on the one hand, and proponents of conspiracy theories or the new age environment on the other. Thus UFO-Sverige seeks to construct an alternative scientific identity in contrast to adversaries on both sides, each unwilling to give the UFO phenomenon any further examination. Following the work of Tomas Gieryn's sociological grip on questions of epistemology, especially concerning the social boundaries of science from other cultural categories through what has been labelled as epistemic boundary work, during which proponents of a particular field aim to achieve epistemic authority and thus the legitimate right to define what is and what is not science, I seek to analyze how questions of science and legitimacy are actualized in an intellectual environment or culture not broadly accepted as scientific.

The market risk premium is one of the most important parameters in finance. Its value and the ways to calculate a risk premium for the market is a widely debated subject. This thesis examines numerous ways of calculating a risk premium for the Swedish market with regard to how good an estimation they make of a real risk premium. Estimations based on historical periods ranging from 20 to 85 years is calculated as well as a premium based on forward-looking estimates. The real risk premium is solved out for a selection of companies and an index with the help of CAPM.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate the risk management at the department Road construction, The National Road Administration Region Mälardalen. The aim is also to study how the risk management could be improved to better support the project leaders. Included in theses aims is to examine potential problems with the current risk management and to suggest changes. It is of utter importance to define the concept of risk, to study how risk can be measured and in which ways risk can be analyzed. In doing so, a literary study has be done and fourteen respondents has been interviewed.Risk is to be seen more as a concept than a quantity.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka uppfattningar om risk inom mödrahälsovården. Den behandlar hur barnmorskor och deras patienter uppfattar risk i samband med och runt en graviditet och hur de hanterar denna. En av metoderna för att hantera risk är fosterdiagnostik, vilket syftar till att finna riskgraviditeter. Fokus har främst varit på barnmorskor med frågeställningar kring hur de informerar om risk och fosterdiagnostik, hur de ger råd och hur de uppfattar den inverkan detta har på deras patienter och hur dessa reagerar..

Departing from Fred Dretske?s groundbreaking article, this essay explore the epistemic closure principle: the principle that states that knowledge is closed under known implication. It also explores the relationship to skepticism, various attempts to challenge and defend the principle, as well as developing a new perspective where the skeptical premise is seen as an a priori justified tautology that can be overriden by a posteriori experience. I argue that Dretske?s illuminating example makes it clear that there is an unescapable choice between either rejecting a skeptical premise ? however intuitive it may seem ? or inextricably having to admit a skeptical conclusion. .

In this essay, Risk and crisis management Conservation policy and normalization production, I discuss how societies, communities and individuals are responsible for the handling of catastrophes and crises. Risk and vulnerability analyzes are parts of modern risk and crisis management. The purpose of these analyzes is to prepare people and organizations for any crises. For managing this it is necessary to comprehend, be able to change mindset in creating concrete tasks and inform others.The purpose of this essay is to analyze modern risk and crisis management by studying empirical material, such as interviews, observations and literature. My aim is to combine these materials and study how they cooperate.One of the findings in this essay is that risk and vulnerability analyzes are of great complexity. These analyzes require a discussion in order to identify the development of the society's crisis management system, as well as the continued support of the individuals that have a responsibility for preventing and preparing their organizations..

Information about the risks involved shall be distributed to the people living in the area nearby to potentially dangerous installation. Swedish law stipulates strict requirements on what information should be supplied, but the law itself does not give any guidance on presentation. The main purpose of the study is to give recommendations on how to improve the information brochures. Within the study, eight people working with risk information have been interviewed and seven different risk information brochures have been studied. Also, a theoretical analysis and a practical experiment were performed using brochures from two municipalities.

All companies face risk in their daily business. Internationalised companies tend to experience higher risk due to for example unfamiliar business environment than companies that act only on the national market. Estonia became independent as late as in 1991 and is therefore a new interesting market for many companies in neighbouring countries like Sweden. Risks that are most apparent for an internationalised company are political risk, currency risk, capital and interest rate risk, business risk and credit risk. Our intention of this study was to find out how Swedish companies acting on the Estonian market faced the different risks when entering the Estonian market and how they value the risks today.

When constructing a road the risk of emission of substances from the used materials to the surrounding environment has to be evaluated. The aim of this study is to present a proposal for how to evaluate the risk of contamination as a result of emission from the materials in a road construction. The study is based on literature studies, an inventory and a questionnaire that examines how experts in governmental agencies, industries and universities evaluate the risk of contamination. The inventory indicates that guidelines for evaluating the risk of emission from secondary materials in a road construction do not exist. The conclusions from the questionnaire are: that there is no common way to evaluate the risk of contamination as a result of emission from materials in the road construction, there is no uniform interpretation of the terms "minor" and "significant" risk of contamination and that the evaluation is subjective.

The purpose of this Bachelor Thesis is to investigate whether the introduction of IFRS, and in particular IAS 40 regarding fair value accounting of investment property, has lead to increased financial risk for Swedish real estate companies. Financial risk is measured using several financial risk ratios during the period 2000-2009, effectively covering the period before and after the introduction in 2005. The financial risk is found to actually have decreased significantly in comparison with the control group. The relative decrease supports the notion of a factor unique to the real estate companies at least partially driving the change, possibly IAS 40. However, this change is, due to the statistic method employed, only an indication of the direction of change, and consequently interpretations of the magnitude of change cannot be made.

All since Thomas Kuhn?s strongly influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions the Philosophy of Science and ?even more so ?the Social Sciences have contained a greater amount of theories that could be described as more or less relativistic, meaning that the standards of justification or truth thereafter more often were said to be relative to language, culture, or biological makeup. One of the more elaborate ways of developing Thomas Kuhn?s theories in a more relativistic direction ismade by the philosopher Richard Rorty. Rorty, mainly a supporter of Thomas Kuhn, is also a philosopher who has been seen as a main exponent of a so called Postmodern philosophy.My intention in this thesis is to evaluate whether Kuhn's and Rorty's theories of science and knowledge could be regarded as relativism, in respects of their view of incommensurability, rational argumentation, and of their position vis-á-vis the more conventional picture of scientific knowledge and truth.