In this master’s thesis we examine how the public libraries’ role and mission has been interpreted during the covid-19 pandemic and how the public libraries adapted to the situation. Public libraries are communal spaces meant for the public and according to the Swedish library law the public libraries should work especially towards a few specified prioritized target groups. Therefore, we also wanted to consider which groups needs that have been fulfilled or not, through the adjustments during the pandemic. The material of the study consists of interviews with 14 public library directors and 1 developer of public libraries services. We applied Fairclough’s framework for critical discourse analysis on our interview material. This framework was supplemented with Habermas term the public sphere and with the discourses about public libraries identified by Hedemark.  In the thesis we identified reasons and arguments for how the public libraries readjusted their library activities and prioritized services. We also identified which discourses about libraries were noticeable in the library directors’ descriptions of the libraries’ role during the pandemic. Several discourses about libraries identified by Hedemark were common in the material. We also found a discourse that had not been identified by previous research, which we named the social meeting place discourse. We interpreted the prevalence of this discourse about libraries, which focuses on the social aspect of the library as a meeting place, as an effect of the pandemic. Since the libraries have not been able to function as meeting places during the pandemic, this function has become more noticeable. The closing of the libraries as meeting places has affected all the library users but has affected the libraries work towards the prioritized groups the most. In some areas of Sweden the public libraries have replaced some of the meeting place functions with new digital services. These adaptions vary greatly between different counties, which has meant that people have had different access to library services depending on where they live.  This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

In response to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Swedish National Agency for Education and the Public Health Agency of Sweden recommended that all upper secondary schools in Sweden would temporarily transition to distance education. A report was simultaneously ordered by the Swedish School Inspectorate, which would monitor the effects the distance education had on Swedish upper secondary schools. The report found that many areas of the Swedish upper secondary school had suffered during the period of distance education. The purpose for this essay is to examine how the findings of the report corresponds with the experiences in German teaching at upper secondary level, one year after the publishing of the original report. An interview with a teacher of German was conducted, who had spent the last three semesters teaching German in an upper secondary school, which mostly was spent via online teaching due to the recommendations from the Public Health Agency. The findings suggest that most of the negative consequences highlighted by the report coincide with the experiences in teaching of German as a foreign language, although many of the findings also apply to other parts of the schoolsystem as well. The findings, furthermore, seem to indicate that certain aspects of what was highlighted by the report could potentially affect foreign language teaching especially, as language learning depends on interactional factors to be successful. The gradual return of present learning has also created a situation of hybrid learning, which only seem to affect certain parts of the school system, German teaching included. To combat similar situations with negative effects in the future, this essay aims to discuss ways in which to actively work towards a teaching approach that is affected to a lesser extent than have been monitored during the covid-19 pandemic. Ways in which to improve future teaching include actively fostering good motivational practices and adapting to working methods which combine the positives of both present and online teaching practices.

Les changements climatiques représentent une menace majeure pour la santé publique au Canada et ailleurs. À l’inverse, l’action climatique pourrait procurer des éventuels co-bénéfices santé. Bien que la recherche en matière de communication sur les changements climatiques soit en plein essor, seulement une poignée d’études ont exploré comment les médias relient les changements climatiques à leurs impacts sur la santé humaine. Les médias peuvent jouer un rôle clef, de par leur capacité à modeler la compréhension du public ainsi que son adhésion à des politiques nouvelles. Cette analyse de contenu examine la couverture des impacts sanitaires des changements climatiques dans le journal canadien The Globe and Mail entre 2008 et 2020. Notre étude suggère que le cadrage santé demeure sous-utilisé à ce jour, et que les journalistes ne réussissent pas à faire des liens exhaustifs entre climat et santé. Lorsque la question est abordée, le contenu est le plus souvent imprécis ; sans risque sanitaire, facteur social médiateur ou population vulnérable identifiés. Les co-bénéfices santé émanant de l’action climatique peuvent convier des émotions positives et ainsi inciter davantage à un changement comportemental. Malgré tout, ils demeurent rarement mentionnés. Tandis que des études précédentes montraient que les professionnels de la santé sont les mieux équipés pour communiquer les risques, nous avons constaté que ce sont les membres de la société civile, la plupart n’ayant pas d’expertise médicale, qui sont les plus souvent cités dans les articles. Enfin, la pandémie de Covid-19 peut être décrite comme une opportunité manquée pour recadrer les changements climatiques, puisque notre étude démontre que le cadrage santé n’était pas plus utilisé en 2020 qu’auparavant. / Climate change represents a major threat to public health in Canada and elsewhere. Conversely, climate action could procure potential health co-benefits. Although research on climate communication is growing, only a few studies have explored how the media connect climate change to its impacts on human health. The media can play a key role in shaping people’s understanding of the issue as well as their support for policy change. This media content analysis investigates the coverage of climate change impacts on human health in the Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail between 2008 and 2020. Our study suggests that the public health frame remains largely underutilized to this date, and that journalists fail to make comprehensive links between climate change and health. When the issue is addressed, the content is most often unprecise, with either no particular health risk, social mediating factor or vulnerable population identified. Climate action health co-benefits can convey positive emotions and induce greater behavior change. Yet, they are rarely mentioned. While previous studies have shown that health professionals are best equipped to communicate the risks, we found that members of civil society with no medical expertise were the most regularly cited individuals in the articles. Finally, the Covid-19 pandemic could be described as a missed opportunity to reframe climate change, as our study demonstrates that the public health frame was not more often used in 2020 than it was before.

År 2005 infördes ett nytt regelverk inom redovisning för hantering av den immateriella tillgången goodwill vid namn IAS 36, som innebär att goodwill ska prövas för nedskrivning varje år. En nedskrivningsprövning ska upptäcka om en tillgångs redovisade värde inte längre överensstämmer med verkligt värde. Att värdena inte överensstämmer sker på bred skala under en ekonomisk kris. Regelverket har upptäckts tillåta en grad av subjektivitet som kan ge upphov till earnings management, manipulering av redovisade siffror, vilket är ett globalt problem och en viktig fråga inom etiken för finansiell redovisning. Syftet med den här studien är därför att undersöka nedskrivningen av goodwill hos ett urval av svenska börsnoterade företag under de två senaste stora ekonomiska kriserna, finanskrisen 2008–2009 och covidkrisen 2020 samt undersöka om det finns tecken på earnings management genom goodwillnedskrivningar. Författarna tillämpar en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv ansats och ett antal anova-test samt t-test har utförts. Resultatet visar att det inte finns någon signifikant skillnad mellan företags beteende när det gäller nedskrivningar av goodwill mellan de två undersökta kriserna, och att det sker få nedskrivningar. Dessutom tyder resultatet på att det finns ett möjligt tecken på earnings management genom goodwillnedskrivning. / In 2005, a new regulatory system in accounting for handling the intangible asset goodwill, called IAS 36, came into effect, which means that goodwill should be tested for impairment annually. An impairment test must detect if an asset's reported value no longer corresponds to fair value. That the values do not correspond occurs on a wide scale during an economic crisis. The regulations have been found to allow a degree of subjectivity which can give rise to earnings management, the manipulation of reported figures, which is a global problem and an important issue in financial accounting ethics. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the impairment of goodwill in a selection of Swedish listed companies during the two most recent major economic crises, the financial crisis 2008-2009 and the covid crisis 2020, and see if there are signs of earnings management through goodwill write-offs. The authors use a quantitative method and have had a deductive approach. A number of t-tests and anova tests have been performed. The result shows that there is no significant difference between companies' behavior in terms of impairment of goodwill between the two investigated crises, and that there are few goodwill write-offs. In addition, the result suggests that there is a possible sign of earnings management through goodwill impairment.

Fortlevnadsprincipen är en av de grundläggande principerna för upprättandet av en årsredovisning, vilket innebär att företaget förutsätts kunna fortsätta bedriva sin verksamhet under en överskådlig tid. Covid-19 pandemin skapade osäkra marknader, vilket ökade osäkerheten kring den fortsatta driften hos företag. Revisorn har en viktig roll på en osäker marknad för att säkerställa att den finansiella rapporteringen inte innehåller väsentliga fel. I början av revisionsprocessen råder det många orosmoment för revisorn, vilket gör att dessa behöver minskas för att revisorn ska kunna uppnå komfort i sin bedömning av fortlevnadsprincipen. Det blir därmed intressant att utforska om Covid-19 pandemin haft någon inverkan på hur revisorn uppnår komfort. Tidigare studier visar att Covid-19 pandemin hade en inverkan på revisorns arbete, vilket ledde till försämrade möjligheter till en korrekt bedömning av den fortsatta driften. Det finns ingen tidigare studie angående effekten av Covid-19 pandemin vid bedömning av fortlevnadsprincipen med hänseende till revisorns komfortabilitet, vilket är anledningen till studien. En ytterligare anledning till vår studie är att öka revisorernas och intressenternas förståelse för vad som har en inverkan på komfortabiliteten hos revisorer. Syftet med studien är att utforska huruvida effekten av Covid-19 pandemin haft en inverkan på hur revisorn uppnår komfortabilitet i sin bedömning av fortlevnadsprincipen. Studien utgår från komfortteorin och dess tre dimensioner, komfort som lättnad, komfort som tillstånd och komfort som förnyelse. De tre dimensionerna ställs sedan mot studiens empiri för att utforska huruvida effekten av Covid-19 pandemin haft en inverkan på hur komfort uppnås. Empirin har samlats in genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer, med auktoriserade revisorer.  Studiens slutsats är att effekten av Covid-19 pandemin inte haft någon inverkan på hur revisorn uppnår komfortabilitet vid bedömningen av fortlevnadsprincipen. Erfarenhet inom yrket samt respondenternas kundkännedom är två faktorer vilka bidragit till revisorns komfort. Beroende på om revisorn arbetar på en mindre eller större revisionsbyrå bidrar olika faktorer till revisorns komfortabilitet. På de mindre byråerna är granskningsprogrammet en bidragande faktor till komfort medan det på större byråer nämns, metodik, branschexperter och risk management som bidragande faktorer till att revisorn uppnår komfort. / The going concern principle is one of the fundamental principles for establish the financial statements, which assumes that the company can continue its operations for the foreseeable future. The Covid-19 pandemic created uncertain markets, which increased the uncertainty surrounding the going concern principle of companies. Auditors’ play a crucial role in an uncertain market to ensure that the financial reporting does not contain material misstatements. At the beginning of the audit process there are many concerns for the auditor, which need to be minimized for the auditor to achieve comfort in their assessment of the going concern principle. Therefore it’s interesting to explore whether the Covid-19 pandemic has had any impact on how the auditor achieves comfort. Previous studies show that the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on the auditors' work, leading to reduced opportunities for an accurate assessment of the going concern. There is no previous study regarding the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the assessment of the going concern principle in relation to the auditors' comfort, which is the reason for this study. An additional reason for our study is to enhance the understanding of auditors and stakeholders regarding the factors influencing auditors´comfort.  The purpose of the study is to explore whether the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced how auditors achieve comfort in their assessment of the going concern principle. The study is based on the comfort theory and its three dimensions, comfort as relief, comfort as state, comfort as renewal. The three dimensions are then compared with the empirical data of the study to explore whether the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on how comfort is achieved. The empirical data has been collected through six semi-structured interviews, with certified auditors. The conclusion of the study is that the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has not had any impact on how the auditor achieves comfort in assessing the going concern principle. Experience within the profession and the respondents' knowledge of their clients are two factors that have contributed to the auditor's comfort. Depending on whether the auditor works at a smaller or larger audit firm, different factors contribute to the auditor's comfort. In smaller firms the audit program is mentioned as a contributing factor to comfort, while in larger firms, methodology,experts in specific markets and risk management are mentioned as contributing factors to the auditor's achievement of comfort

This study investigated the associations between sleep patterns and singing voice quality in 231 adult singers of various skill levels across the United States. The four-part survey using a general questionnaire on demographics, musical background, vocal health, and three established survey instruments: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10 (SVHI-10), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) found that while scores were worse than normative values for the PSQI and the SVHI-10, a Pearson correlation between the two showed a moderate association. A linear regression also yielded that 8.9% of the variance in SVHI-10 scores could be predicted from PSQI scores. While further research is needed in this area, this study suggests that the amount of sleep needed for an optimal singing voice may be different from the amount needed to feel well-rested for some singers. Moreover, singers may overestimate the influence of sleep on their singing voices.

COVID-19 was spreading on a worldwide scope with incredible speed. According to the restrictions that most countries applied, school activities were forced to be moved online. This study is aiming at investigating the functions that are influencing the learning experience of students that are in the bachelor's major of Design in online conference platforms. This research would be carried out in the scope of students that are doingtheir bachelors in Swedish institutions of higher education - universities and colleges. To conduct this research, the authors will carry out a survey together with interviews with students that are studying in design programs in Swedish institutions of higher education.The functions that are influencing students’ learning experience of online education would be investigated by both literature research and the content from the survey and interview. After the process of research, the data would be well collected and analyzed tosee how these functions are influencing the learning experience of online education.Those most effective problems would be marked and highlighted by the end of the data analysis. As such, a better understanding of Design undergraduates’ experience for online learning will hopefully enable stakeholders to overcome barriers to online learning and improve learning outcomes.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a transformative period for Sweden's upper secondary schools. During a period in social studies, teachers have not been allowed to talk about or reflect on these experiences. As future social studies teachers, we saw a need to investigate this issue. How a complex and vital subject like social studies, which is supposed to form democratic citizens, was affected by all the social changes that covid-19 contributed to in society. Therefore, we aimed to investigate how social studies teachers experienced the covid-19 pandemic, how their professional role, the relationship with the students, and the social studies subject was affected. We have used a qualitative methodological approach through a narrative interview method to interview social studies teachers at upper secondary schools in southern Sweden. The empirical work was analyzed using Pierre Bourdieu's capital- and field theory and Basil Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing. The study results show that social studies teachers' professional roles and relationships with students changed during the covid-19 pandemic. The teachers lost confidence, control and questioned their professional choice when the interaction between teachers and students deteriorated during distance learning. Consequently, the professional role changed, and the teachers have become more caring actors for the students. Social studies teaching was overcrowded and challenged by the social changes brought about by the covid-19 pandemic. The relevance of the social studies subject was strengthened and gained greater importance in a society in crisis. The school has returned to old habits as before the pandemic, and school organizations have yet to take advantage of the social studies teachers' experiences during the covid-19 pandemic.

Titel: Svenska företags redovisning av intellektuellt kapital i spåren av covid-19-pandemin -En kvantitativ studie av 120 börsnoterade företag Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Hanna Lindström och Saga Djäkner Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2023 - maj Syfte: I början av år 2020 drabbades världen av en pandemi som haft betydande påverkan på stora delar av samhället, såväl människor som företag. I svåra ekonomiska tider kan företagen behöva framhäva andra kvalitéer inom bolaget än de finansiella. Tidigare forskning visar hur redovisningen av intellektuellt kapital ökat under ekonomiska kriser, som finanskrisen eller generellt under en lågkonjunktur. Vi såg därför en möjlighet att bidra till att fylla ett kunskapsgap och undersöka om covid-19-pandemin har fått företagen att öka eller minska sin redovisningsmängd av intellektuellt kapital. Syftet med studien är därmed att utifrån finansiella rapporter undersöka om den frivilliga redovisningen av intellektuellt kapital i svenska börsnoterade företag har minskat eller ökat på grund av covid-19-pandemin. För att uppfylla syftet har vi formulerat två frågeställningar som vi besvarat i studien. Metod: Metoden vi har tillämpat i denna studie är en kvantitativ metod. En innehållsanalys har använts genom ett index av sökord och kodning. Därefter har det genomförts en korrelationsanalys mellan de oberoende variablerna bransch och företagsstorlek. Därefter har vi utfört två multipla regressionsanalyser mellan beroende variablerna (redovisningsmängd 2019 samt 2021) och de oberoende variablerna. Datan för studien har samlats in genom Nasdaq där studien har begränsats till svenska företag noterade på Stockholmsbörsen som har sina årsredovisningar tillgängliga på engelska för år 2019 respektive 2021. Resultat och slutsats: Slutsatsen för studien är att redovisningen av intellektuellt kapital har ökat mellan år 2019 och 2021. Det går däremot inte att fastställa att ökningen är helt eller delvis på grund av coronapandemin. Studien påvisar ett statistiskt säkerställt samband mellan företagens storlek och deras benägenhet att redovisa intellektuellt kapital. Ett statistiskt säkerställt samband fanns däremot inte mellan branschen respektive företag var verksam i och deras redovisningsnivå av intellektuellt kapital. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens resultat anser vi kan hjälpa företag att få en ökad kunskap om ämnet intellektuellt kapital och därtill hur redovisningen av fenomenet kan utgöra en fördel för företagen, speciellt under en finansiell kris. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Baserat på studiens resultat ser vi en möjlighet för framtida forskning att bygga vidare på vår studie och utföra en kvalitativ studie där företagen själva får motivera anledningen bakom ökad redovisningsnivå av intellektuellt kapital. Ännu ett förslag till framtida forskning är att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan försämrad lönsamhet och högre redovisningsnivå av intellektuellt kapital. / Title: Swedish companies level of disclosure regarding intellectual capital in the wake of the covid-19-pandemic - A quantitative study of 120 listed companies. Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. Author: Hanna Lindström and Saga Djäkner Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2023 - May Aim: Early year 2020, the world experienced the beginning of a pandemic. Since then, this pandemic has had a major influence in the life of both humans and cooperations. Companies were forced to adjust their way of doing business, creating safe working environments but also cutting down operations and workforce. At the same time, a crisis could also mean a need to highlight other qualities than just financial, as the latter tends to underperform. Previous research has proven an increase in the level of disclosure of intellectual capital following a financial crisis. This pandemic could be seen as a new phenomenon, therefore we found a possible knowledge gap to fill by examining if the covid-19-pandemic affected the level of disclosure regarding intellectual capital. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate, based on annual reports, whether the voluntary intellectual capital disclosure of Swedish listed companies has increased or decreased due to the covid-19-pandemic. To fulfill our purpose, two research questions were defined and later on answered.  Method: We applied a quantitative method with the data collected from companies on Nasdaq Stockholm. A content analysis were performed by using indexes of keywords and coding. We carried out a correlation analysis between the independent variables in order to facilitate a multiple regression analysis of the disclosure level due to size or industry in 2021 as well as 2019. The study has been limited to listed Swedish companies that have had their annual reports for 2019 and 2021 available in English. Results and conclusions: We found that the disclosure level of intellectual capital increased from 2019 to 2021. Although it cannot be determined that the increase is entirely or partly due to the covid-19-pandemic. The study shows a statistically reliable relationship between the size of the companies and their disclosure level of intellectual capital. However, a statistically reliable relationship could not be found between the companies disclosure level and theindustries they operate in. Contribution of the thesis: We believe that the results of the study could help companies gain an increased knowledge of the subject of intellectual capital and, in addition, how the disclosing level could act as an advantage for companies, especially during a financial crisis. Suggestions for future research: Based on the result of this study, we see an opportunity for future studies to conduct a qualitative study where the companies themselves can explain the reason behind the increased disclosure level of intellectual capital. Another suggestion may be to examine whether there is a relationship between declining profitability and a higher level of intellectual capital disclosure.

The fundamental source of data journalism, which has established itself in the Czech media landscape in recent years, is the availability of usable data sets. However, academicians have so far neglected the topic of data openness and its importance in journalistic discourse. Simultaneously, data journalists are often the first to make data available to the public. An integral part of the thesis is mapping the historical development of data journalism, including the phenomenon of open government with a focus on Czech and European legislation and obtaining information with the help of the Freedom of Information Act. The aim of the thesis is, based on in-depth interviews with Czech data journalists, to identify the data sources which they frequently often use in their editorial routines, to evaluate the quality of these sources and to present the main limits that journalists encounter. In the conclusive part of the thesis the author transfers the focus to analysis of the availability of data sources provided by the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Health Information and Statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and outlines the process of acquisition, cleaning, analysis, and visualization of information by journalists.