Background and objectives: Physical fitness and stress resilience may influence the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) disease. High physical fitness level may reduce levels of systemic inflammation while psychosocial stress exposure can increase inflammation levels and intestinal permeability. The main objectives are to evaluate if poorer physical fitness and stress resilience in adolescence are associated with a raised risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and GI infections in adulthood and to assess evidence of causality. Materials and methods: Swedish registers provided information on a cohort of approximately 250,000 men who underwent military conscription assessments in late adolescence (1969 –1976) with follow-up until December 2009 (up to age 57 years). Cox regression evaluated the associations of physical fitness and stress resilience in adolescence with subsequent GI disease risk in adulthood. Results and conclusions: IBD: Poor physical fitness was associated with an increased risk of IBD. The association may be explained (in part) by prodromal disease activity reducing exercise capacity and therefore fitness. Low stress resilience was associated with an increased risk of receiving an IBD diagnosis. Stress may not be an important cause of IBD but may increase the likelihood of conversion from subclinical to symptomatic disease. PUD: Low stress resilience was associated with an increased risk of PUD. This may be explained by a combination of physiological and behavioural mechanisms that increase susceptibility to H. pylori infections and other risk factors. GI infections: Low stress resilience was associated with a reduced risk of GI infections, including enteric infections rather than the hypothesised increased risk.

This thesis draws on ethnographic research carried out with a group of returned Sri Lankan migrant women who migrated for employment to the Middle East. This retrospective ethnography, based on their time working abroad, brings forth ideas of silent resistance and hidden weapons of women from developing countries, and intends to work against dominant discourses like the human trafficking framework which deems migrant women ‘victims’ of the system of migration, largely ignoring the agency that they exercise throughout the process. The ethnography argues that resistance and resilience are better frameworks with which to characterise the experiences of migrant women. The women in this study showed that through resilience, resistance and agency, they were able to navigate through an immensely oppressive system. They used resourceful and courageous modes of resistance within constrained social situations. The thesis looks at their experiences in the three chronological stages of their migration: pre-departure, life in the host country, and the return to Sri Lanka.

Denna studie kommer att fokusera på i huvudsak två delar, en områdessöversikt och en fallstudie. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur Malmö stad, Norrköpings kommun och Karlskrona kommun arbetar med översiktlig planering för att öka motståndskraften mot havsnivåhöjningar samt att skapa en förståelse för fenomenet havsnivåhöjning. Vidare även att behandla vad stigande havsnivåer kan leda till och hur framtiden kan komma att te sig enligt forskning samt att beskriva strategier som kan användas för att öka motståndskfraften mot havsnivåhöjning. Studien kommer att utgå från kvalitativ forskning med utgångspunkt i ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Metoden för datainsamling är dokument som kommer att utgå i från två typer av skrifter: vetenskapligt framställda och granskade dokument samt dokumentation utgiven av FN, statliga verk, länsstyrelser och kommuner. Dokumenten analyseras sedan med hjälp av en innehållsanalys som utgår från ett teoretiskt perspektiv, vilket utgörs av tre begrepp: anpassning, resilience och havsnivåhöjning. Slutligen diskuteras och jämförs fallen samt att frågeformuleringar diskuteras i form av slutsatser.

This study aims at understanding the role of education in promoting disaster preparedness. Strengthening resilience to climate-related hazards is an urgent target of Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Preparing for a disaster such as stockpiling of emergency supplies or having a family evacuation plan can substantially minimize loss and damages from natural hazards. However, the levels of household disaster preparedness are often low even in disaster-prone areas. Focusing on determinants of personal disaster preparedness, this paper investigates: (1) pathways through which education enhances preparedness; and (2) the interplay between education and experience in shaping preparedness actions. Data analysis is based on face-to-face surveys of adults aged 15 years [or older] in Thailand (N = 1,310) and the Philippines (N = 889, female only). Controlling for socio-demographic and contextual characteristics, we find that formal education raises the propensity to prepare against disasters. Using the KHB method to further decompose the education effects, we find that the effect of education on disaster preparedness is mainly mediated through social capital and disaster risk perception in Thailand whereas there is no evidence that education is mediated through observable channels in the Philippines. This suggests that the underlying mechanisms explaining the education effects are highly context-specific. Controlling for the interplay between education and disaster experience, we show that education raises disaster preparedness only for those households that have not been affected by a disaster in the past. Education improves abstract reasoning and anticipation skills such that the better educated undertake preventive measures without needing to first experience the harmful event and then learn later. In line with recent efforts of various UN agencies in promoting education for sustainable development, this study provides a solid empirical evidence showing positive externalities of education in disaster risk reduction.

Mental health has become a prominent issue in society. Yet, much remains unknown about the etiology of psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate the association between biological, psychological and social factors of risk and resilience and behavioral problems in a birth cohort of Swedish children. 1723 mothers and their children were followed from birth to the age of 12 as part of the South East Sweden Birth Cohort Study (the SESBiC study). Information was gathered through register data, standardized questionnaires and DNA samples. In study I, stability of maternal symptoms of depression and the impact on child behavior at age 12 were investigated. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was found to be 12.0 % postpartum. Symptoms of postpartum depression significantly increased the risk for subsequent depressive symptoms 12 years later in women. Children whose mothers reported concurrent symptoms of depression and anxiety had an increased risk for both internalizing and externalizing problems at age 12, but no long term effect on child behavior was seen for postpartum depressive symptoms. The greatest risk was seen for children whose mothers reported symptoms of depression on both occasions. In study II, the impact of gene-environment interaction of 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met and experience of life events together with symptoms of maternal depression and anxiety on child behavior at age 12 was studied. A main effect of 5-HTTLPR was noticed, but no geneenvironment effects were shown. Similarly to study I, concurrent symptoms of maternal depression and anxiety were an important predictor of child behavioral problems. A high degree of psychosocial stress around childbirth was found to have long lasting detrimental effects on child behavior, increasing the risk for internalizing problems at age 12. Study III investigated the impact of geneenvironment interactions of 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met and life events together with symptoms of maternal depression and birth characteristics on behavioral problems at age 3. Symptoms of postpartum depression were found to predict internalizing as well as externalizing problems in children three years later. Child experience of life events was a stable predictor of behavioral problems across the scales similar to sociodemographic factors such as parental immigration status and unemployment. No gene-environment interaction effects of 5-HTTLPR or BDNF Val66Met were shown. Study IV used the risk factors identified in studies I-III to investigate factors of resilience to behavioral problems at age 12. The l/l genotype of 5-HTTLPR was associated with a lower risk for behavioral problems at age 12, especially for children facing low adversity. Good social functioning was found to be a general resource factor, independent of the level of risk, while an easy temperament was associated with resilience for children with a high degree of adversity. However, effect sizes were small. In summary, the results from the present thesis emphasize the importance of maternal mental health and sociodemographic factors for child mental health at ages 3 and 12, which must be taken into account in clinical settings. Moreover, it adds to the null-findings of the gene-environment effect of 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met on behavioral problems in children, but indicates a main effect of 5-HTTLPR on internalizing symptoms at age 12.

A multidisciplinary research methodology based on the combination of literature review and spatial analysis is presented as a contribution to the historical ecology of olive trees in Sicily (Italy). The thesis crosscuts time and space at different scales for a new epistemological approach to allow the olive trees to “talk”. Structured around the identification of breaking points and nodes of connection, the social and ecological history of the olive trees in the island are explored. While recognising the full agency of trees in the spatial and temporal evolving dynamics of the landscape, the vital importance of their inner connections with other elements of the ecosystems is stressed in the analysis; as also the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The thesis is concluded with the hypothesis that the olive trees of Sicily could be seen as biocultural refugia, physical places which preserve both agricultural biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge.

The aim of the study is to examine how well MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) prepare the Swedish humanitarian aid workers to face stressful situations, looking at the pre- deployment preparation received. The study investigates how effective and relevant the pre- deployment preparation is in terms of building resilience against stress, according to the humanitarian aid workers’ experience. This study has been conducted with a quantitative online survey, combined with a qualitative open- ended survey. The surveys were based on research models on work-related stress and on resilience- building among humanitarian aid workers. The frameworks point out criteria needed to be fulfilled by an organization in order to build sufficient stress- resilience among humanitarian aid workers in the pre- deployment phase. The results reveal that MSB is able to fulfill most of the criteria set in accordance with the theoretical framework. The one and only criterion MSB fails in providing is an open, in- depth discussion about mental health before the aid worker is deployed. This also corresponds to the aid workers experience of not being provided with this. The aid workers’ experience reveals that resilience against stress is important, however, many seem to build resilience independently from MSB.

Bakgrund: Sedan mitten av 1900-talet har antalet internationella turister ökat kontinuerligt över hela världen. Samtidigt har flertalet nischade turismformer vuxit sig starka, en av dem är ekoturismen med dess miljöetiska förhållningssätt. Dock har tidigare forskning visat att turismindustrin är en bidragande faktor till den oacceptabla globala förändring vi står inför idag. Syfte och frågeställning: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera ekoturismens effekter på miljön i relation till konceptet för jordens nio planetära gränser. Studien riktar sig till aktörer inom turismbranschen för att tillhandahålla kunskap om hur ekoturismen påverkar miljön. Med detta syfte i åtanke formulerades följande frågeställning: - Hur förhåller sig ekoturismens effekter på miljön till jordens nio planetära gränser? Metod: Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys, som presenteras i form av en kartläggning, ger studien en översiktlig bild av vad för typ av effekter ekoturismen har samt hur de förhåller sig till jordens nio planetära gränser. Uppsatsen har en deduktiv ansats, då den tar avstamp i teori rörande ekoturismens miljöetiska förhållningssätt. Detta testas sedan gentemot ett aktuellt och nyintroducerat koncept inom miljövetenskapen, för att identifiera eventuella effekter på miljön. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av vår studie visade att ekoturismens effekter på miljön både bidrog till en ökning och minskning av en eller flera planetära gränsers processer. Den slutsats vi kom fram till var således att ekoturismen har effekter som påverkar miljön. Dessutom upptäckte vi att den större delen av dem kan anses vara hållbara i förhållande till konceptet för jordens nio planetära gränser.

Research has been conducted regarding what relationship demographic diversity have to organisational ambidexterity and team resilience; however never at the same time. This research adds a new context, to this field of research since research has never, to our knowledge, been conducted in a school context. The purpose with this thesis is to explain what relationships gender, age, cultural and tenure diversity have on organisational ambidexterity and team resilience. A cross-sectional research design was used, because of the positivist and deductive approach. The method consisted of a quantitative part in the form of a web based self-completion questionnaire mediated by email, to upper secondary schools, in five Counties, with a minimum of three managers. The qualitative part was in the form of three in-depth interviews, two with School Directors and one with a registrar. The findings shows that gender, culture have a negative relationship to organisational ambidexterity, and age have a positive relationship when moderated by shared vision. The limitations are that only schools with a minimum of three top managers were chosen; the results thereby lack generalisability in other contexts. The implications are that shared vision, when applied to an upper secondary school context seem to decrease in importance and suggestibility. The original value of the conducted study is new insights regarding the relationships demographic diversities have on organisational ambidexterity and team resilience; the choice to conduct the test in a school context.

Against a background of ongoing and predicted climatic and environmental change facing humans on a global level, this thesis combines historical perspectives with theories of social resilience in a study of reindeer husbandry in Swedish Sápmi, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. The thesis includes four individual studies that examine the topic from different angles, connected together by reoccurring elements of social resilience. The first paper analyses the adaptive capacity of reindeer husbandry communities in the northernmost part of Swedish Sápmi during the 19th to early 20th century, using materials from the Sami bailiffs’ archives, governors’ reports and documentation from official committees. The second paper is based on similar materials and explores livelihood diversity of reindeer husbandry in southern and northern regions of Swedish Sápmi from 1860 to 1920. The third paper examines the social networks of reindeer husbandry and includes an analysis on how these are represented in demographic sources at the turn of the 20th century. The fourth and final paper examines taxation lands as objects of place-attachment in a south Sami reindeer husbandry context from 1740 to 1870. The thesis demonstrates that communities and families practiced highly flexible herding in terms of what pasture area they used, when and how they used it and with whom. In order to maintain this flexibility, communities needed authority to manage their own livelihoods and a diverse and interconnected landscape. The results further show that reindeer husbandry was a dynamic and diverse livelihood, well into the 20th century. Fishing, hunting, trapping or farming was part of many reindeer herding families’ livelihoods. By tethering aspects of diversity to norms and ideals within the communities included in the study, I argue that farming can be understood as both an enforced adaptation and as an adaptive capacity depending on the ideals within the community in question. The thesis supports the notions that reindeer husbandry since long has faced many challenges, including: border closings; competing land uses; disturbance from settlers; enforced regulations and laws concerning reindeer husbandry; and restrictions of livelihood diversity. Furthermore, these challenges were not only sources of disturbances in their own right, but they also restricted the adaptive capacity of reindeer herding communities.