I och med Covid-19 pandemin började allt fler arbeta på distans i hemmamiljö och tidigare studier har visat olika utfall som till exempel ökade och minskade muskuloskeletala besvär. Det var lämpligt att genomföra en studie om upplevelser av fysisk hemarbetsmiljö hos tjänstemän inom IT branschen under Covid-19 pandemin för att eventuellt kunna komplettera befintlig forskning och bidra till arbetsgivares riktlinjer om fysisk arbetsmiljö för distansarbete. Det empiriska materialet samlades utifrån fem semistrukturerade intervjuer som sedan analyserades utifrån en fenomenografisk ansats. Resultatet visade att informanterna kunde uppleva fysiska förändringar med två olika utgångspunkter, enklare att bli mer fysisk aktiv och enklare att bli sittande framför datorn i långa perioder. Informanterna upplevde även olika ergonomiska förutsättningar att skapa anpassade arbetsstationer både med möjligheter och begränsningar. Resultatet kan bero på ökad upplevd balans mellan arbete och fritid, tidsflexibilitet, familjesituation, bostadsyta och arbetsgivarens stöttning. Utifrån resultatet skulle det kunna vara väsentligt att arbetsgivare stöttar arbetstagare med kunskap i ergonomi och utrustning vid distansarbete i hemmet. Studien kan ses som en ingång till fortsatt kvalitativ forskning om fysiska aspekter av arbetsmiljö vid distansarbete.

Syftet med denna studie är att genom intervjuer med företrädare för svenska elitidrottsklubbar, inom fotboll och ishockey, beskriva vilka ekonomiska åtgärder som vidtagits på grund av intäktsbortfallen till följd av Covid19-pandemin, samt vilka konsekvenser det har haft för klubbarnas finansiering och deras syn på risker med finansieringen. Pandemin har medfört ekonomiska påfrestningar med stora intäktsbortfall, vilket har satt klubbarnas finansiella verksamhet på prov. En verksamhet som redan präglas av idrottens ekonomiskt destruktiva konkurrens. Studien utfördes genom kvalitativ metod med en abduktiv ansats. Empiriinsamling skedde via fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från svenska elitfotbolls- och elithockeyklubbar, samt kringliggande organ som har direkt samröre med klubbarna. Intäktsbortfallen har framkallat ekonomiska åtgärder hos klubbarna i form av kostnadsbesparingar och alternativa intäkter, samt en mer kontinuerlig budgetering utifrån olika scenarion, baserade på eventuella restriktioners omfattning. Klubbarna anser att de har klarat sig bra rent ekonomiskt under pandemin. Detta härleds dock främst till stöd och bidrag från intressentgrupper som bidragit till deras ekonomiska motståndskraft. Trots att elitidrottsklubbarnas finansieringssätt visar sig vara riskfyllt, framför studien att klubbarna inte tar detta i beaktning då de kan förlita sig på stöd från intressentgrupperna vid tider av finansiella svårigheter. / The purpose of this study is to describe, through interviews with representatives of Swedish elite sports clubs in football and ice hockey, what financial measures have been taken due to loss of income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what consequences it has had for the clubs financing and their view of the risks with their financing. The pandemic has brought economic constraints on the sports clubs, due to large losses of income, which has put their financial activities to the test. Activities that are already characterised by the economically destructive competition of sport. The study used a qualitative method with an abductive approach. The empirical data was collected by conducting five semi structured interviews with representatives from the sports clubs themselves, and also from surrounding organisations with direct association with the clubs. The loss of income has resulted in measures such as cost reduction, finding alternative income sources and a more continuous budgetary planning, based on scenarios of possible restrictions. The clubs consider themselves to have endured the economic constraints, brought by the pandemic, fairly well. However, the main contributing factor to the clubs economic resilience is support from interest groups. Even though the way elite sports clubs are financed is considered to be risky, the findings of this study show that the clubs do not take this into consideration because they can rely on economic support from these interest groups in times of financial distress.

Fysisk aktivitet kan genomföras genom exempelvis lagidrott vilket genererar psykiska, fysiska och sociala vinster i relation till hälsa. Som lagidrottsutövare under en pandemi har utmaningar uppstått som kräver att idrottsverksamheter behöver anpassa sig vilket också påverkar utövarna. Handboll är en sport som bedrivs inomhus med fysisk kontakt som till följd av Covid-19 pandemin både pausats och stängts ned. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur handbollsspelare upplever möjligheten att vara fysiskt aktiv under en pandemi och huruvida detta påverkar motivation i relation till lagidrotten. I studien har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats genom ett målstyrt urval där sex handbollsspelare i Västmanland intervjuades genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Insamlade data transkriberades och analyserades genom en manifest innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att det finns upplevda möjligheter till fysisk aktivitet under Covid-19 pandemin som krävt en individuell träningsomställning och detta har möjliggjort mer tid till annat. De upplevda hindren är begränsad tillgänglighet att utöva handboll och mindre kollektiv träning som har bidragit till bristande motivation till lagidrotten. Slutsatserna visar att den sociala vinsten lagidrott genererar upplevs meningsfull vilket pandemin begränsat. Möjligheter och hinder har gjort att handbollsspelare ifrågasätter varför de tränar så mycket när det inte finns något att träna för vilket också påverkar motivation till sporten. / Physical activity can be performed through for example team sports which generate mental, physical, and social benefits in relation to health. As a team sport athlete during a pandemic, challenges have arisen that require sports activities to adapt, which also affects the athletes. Handball is a sport that is played indoors with physical contact which as a result of the Covid- 19 pandemic has both been paused and shut down. The aim of the study is to investigate how handball players experience the opportunity to be physically active during a pandemic and whether this affects motivation in relation to team sports. In the study, a qualitative method was applied through purposeful sampling where six handball players in Västmanland were interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The collected data were transcribed and analyzed by manifest content analysis. The results show that there are perceived opportunities for physical activity during the Covid- 19 pandemic that required an individual training adjustment, and this has enabled more time for other things. The perceived barriers during a pandemic with limited accessibility to practice handball and less collective training have contributed to a lack of motivation to team sports. The conclusion shows that the social winning teams sport generates, and which is perceived as meaningful, has been limited during the pandemic. Opportunities and barriers have made handball players questioning why they train so much when there is nothing to train for, which also affect motivation for the sport.

Den 11 mars 2020 klassificerade Världshälsoorganisationen (WHO) covid-19 viruset som en pandemi. I Sverige infördes restriktioner för att begränsa smittspridningen av viruset genom att minska människans fysiska kontakt. Under pandemin började allt fler människor besöka naturområden och besöksantalet ökade kraftigt. Syftet med studien var att undersöka förhållandet mellan människa och natur i relation till stödjande- och kulturella ekosystemtjänster som människan tillgår när hon vistas i naturen. Studiens metod utgjordes av en kvalitativ intervjustudie som bestod av två delar för att inkludera flera perspektiv. Den första intervjumetoden begränsades till fyra naturområden belägna i Skåne och en naturvårdsförvaltare från vardera område samt en vaktmästare från ett av områdena intervjuades. Den andra intervjumetoden inkluderade fem individer som vistats i skånska naturområden under pandemin. Studiens resultat visade att besöksantalet ökat markant i tre av fyra naturområden och störningen från mänsklig aktivitet har varit kraftig i vissa områden. Effekten på hur stödjande ekosystemtjänster påverkats till följd av störningar gick inte att fastställa då det inte gått tillräckligt lång tid sedan besökstrycket ökade till följd av pandemin. Människan har kunnat nyttja naturområden för avslappning, återhämtning och sociala aktiviteter och därmed har kulturella ekosystemtjänster haft en större betydelse för människan under pandemin. Studiens slutsats är att vidare forskning behövs för att undersöka vilka långtgående konsekvenser som covid-19 pandemin haft på människans och naturens mående eftersom kunskap inom området saknas. / The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the covid-19 virus a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. Sweden introduced restrictions to limit the spread of the virus and to restrict people's physical contact with each other. During the pandemic people started to visit natural areas and the number of visitors in these places increased. The purpose of the study was to examine the relation between human and nature and the affiliation with the supportive- and cultural ecosystem services that people utilize when they spend time in nature. A qualitative interview method was chosen to fulfill the purpose of the study. We interviewed four nature conservation managers in four different natural areas in Skåne county, a caretaker in one of the areas, and five individuals who had visited natural areas during the pandemic. The result of the study displayed that the number of visitors had significantly increased in three out of four natural areas and the disturbance from human activity was potent in some of the areas. It was not possible to determine how human disturbance affected the supportive ecosystem services since not enough time had elapsed since the increase of visitors. People have used the natural areas to relax, be restored, and to engage in social activities. The cultural ecosystem services have thus been of greater importance for people during the pandemic. The study also concluded that more research is needed to examine the long-term effects of the pandemic on human’s and nature's wellbeing.

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.