I de senaste PISA- och PIRLS-undersökningar har det visat sig att Sveriges resultat i läsförståelse sjunkit i jämförelse med andra europeiska länder. Lärare i PIRLS-undersökningarna hävdar att det inte ges tillräckligt med utrymme för att samtala om texter. Flera forskare har även kommit fram till att ett ökat talutrymme för eleverna leder till ökad inlärning. Syftet med detta examensarbete är således att undersöka hur sex svensklärare i mellanstadiet arbetar med läsförståelseutvecklingen genom att samtala om texter samt att ta reda på vilka olika uppfattningar de lärarna har angående textsamtal. Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv och dess syn på lärande förklaras främst genom att betona vikten av språket för att kunna kommunicera och lära. För att få svar på studiens frågeställningar har datainsamlingen skett genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. I resultatet framkommer att alla sex lärare har erfarenheter av textsamtal och använder det regelbundet. Lärarna använder sig av liknande metoder för att forma och individ- och nivåanpassa textsamtalen till sin elevgrupp. Resultatet lyfter även fram lärarnas personliga uppfattningar om textsamtal och hur de bedömer utvecklingen hos elevernas läsförståelseförmåga. Dessa uppfattningar handlar om hur viktigt det är att variera textsamtalen efter elevers olika behov men också hur de upprätthåller intresset av att samtala om texter hos eleverna. / <p>Svenska</p>

Draining of the Everglades allowed for the expansion of urban and agricultural development, reducing half of the size of the historic Everglades. The detrimental cascading effect on the Everglades ecosystem function is related to the total phosphorus (TP) concentrations of water inflow, the inflow rate and the distance from the discharge point. As Everglades restoration has approached 15 years since the inception of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), there is a need to assess its progress across the ecosystem. Available data from 2004 to 2014 were collected for soils and from 2004 to 2016 for water to understand a decade of trends. Both Geographic Information System (GIS) and statistical data analysis were applied to determine changes in water quality and soil chemistry. Key findings indicate a declining trend in water TP, with mixed results for soil. Higher TP concentrations (>10 µg/L) were prevalent the areas less than 1 km from a canal or water discharge point for both soil and water. The TP in surface water was higher in the wet season compared to the dry season across the EPA possibly associated with hydrologic, climatic or other factors.

Although examination of the relationship between the media and crime has received considerable attention in the academic literature, only a few studies have examined news media coverage of environmental crimes. The present study examines print news media coverage of federal penalties assessed against the petroleum refining industry from 1997 to 2003. The Environmental Protection Agency initiated and/or settled 162 cases involving seventy-eight petroleum refining companies from 1997 to 2003. While a news search of the nations twenty-five largest newspapers produced seventy-four articles related to petroleum refining industry violations, only seventeen articles matched the EPA cases analyzed in the present study. The present study found that while there is a considerable amount of federal petroleum refining industry violations, only a few cases receive media attention.

<p>Poor food quality can have large negative effects on zooplankton growth and this can also affect food web interactions. The main aims of this thesis were to study the importance of different food quality aspects in <i>Daphnia</i>, to identify potentially important differences among zooplankton taxa, and to put food quality research into a natural context by identifying the importance of food quality and quantity in lakes of different nutrient content.</p><p>In the first experiment, the RNA:DNA ratio was positively related to the somatic growth rate of <i>Daphnia</i>, supporting a connection between P content, RNA content, and growth rate. The second experiment showed that EPA was important for <i>Daphnia</i> somatic growth, and 0.9 µg EPA mg C^-1 was identified as the threshold below which negative effects on <i>Daphnia</i> growth occurred.</p><p>A field survey identified patterns in the PUFA content of zooplankton that could be explained by taxonomy and trophic position. <i>Cladocera</i> enriched EPA and ARA relative to seston, and <i>Copepoda</i> primarily enriched DHA. In a whole-lake experiment, gentle fertilization of an oligotrophicated reservoir increased the seston P content and the biomass of high quality phytoplankton (<i>Cryptophyceae</i>, high EPA content). This was followed by increases in zooplankton and fish biomasses.</p><p>An empirical model based on data from a literature survey predicted that food quantity is most important for zooplankton growth in oligotrophic lakes, and that food quality factors are more important in eutrophic lakes. Thus, zooplankton growth, and energy transfer efficiency in the food web, is predicted to be highest in mesotrophic lakes. The results predict that the strength and nature of food quantity and quality limitation of <i>Daphnia</i> growth varies with lake trophic state, and that some combination of food quantity and/or quality limitation should be expected in nearly all lakes.</p>

The Sugar Industry in Fiji is facing a lot of problems. Since the Government of Fiji has not fulfilled their commitments to the European Union (EU), the EU has backed away from supporting the industry. The milling efficiency has been constantly declining since the mid 1980’s and farm productivities have not kept pace with the changing international market for sugar. To be able to obtain the economies of scale, the sugar production in Fiji has to increase with 75 % from the current level of production. A lot of towns in Fiji would be nothing without the Sugar Industry, and thousands of people are dependent on the industry for their sustenance. Due to this fact, it is certain that the loss of confidence in the industry, or any likely collapse, would imply disaster for Fiji as a whole. It will lead to serious implications on the economic, social and political stability of Fiji. The overall aim of this thesis is to study the effects of the EU measures especially on the Sugar Industry in Fiji, to be able to understand to which extent the industry depends on the support from the EU. The aim is also to analyse and discuss different competition strategies on how Fiji can compete and be a part of the global market of sugar. This research was made from a qualitative approach in order to gain a deeper understanding about the problem. Abduction made it possible to work parallel with different parts of the thesis. A combination of primary and secondary data gathering has been used, with the secondary data as a basis for building the empirical part of the thesis. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with people at different positions within the Sugar Industry in Fiji. Fiji is dependent on the Sugar Industry and since there is no other obvious donor for Fiji today, and it is crucial that the industry gets support, the conclusion is that Fiji also is dependent on the support from the EU. Even though Fiji has the possibility to increase their competitiveness on the regional as well as on the international market, there is no need for Fiji to strive after the world market at the moment.

This paper explores the factors that drive purchases of green power by private and public organizations. Using a cross-sectional analysis of participants in EPA’s Green Power Partnership, I explore whether state energy policies have motivated increased consumption of green power among these participating organizations. Additionally, I analyze economic and political variables by state to determine if certain factors contribute to an organization’s green power purchases. I find that state mandates on renewable energy production and lower premiums for green power lead to increased purchases of green power for members of the Green Power Partnership.

This dissertation has two main objectives. First, we investigate the effectiveness of penalties and other enforcement tools on regulatory compliance, and comprehensively address problems that exist in previous regulatory compliance studies. Second, we develop a model that explains why most empirical studies of regulatory compliance yield results that seem to be inconsistent with the theoretical predictions of Harrington’s (1988) seminal article on regulatory compliance. Thus the dissertation comprises two essays. In Essay One, we estimate facility compliance with the Clean Water Act (CWA) by comprehensively addressing the problems that exist in previous studies. The first problem is the failure to take into account undetected violations. To address this problem, we employ Detection Controlled Estimation (DCE) model, developed by Feinstein (1990). The DCE variant that we use is the two-sided expectation simultaneity version. We use this version because we assume that potential violators will react to what the regulator would do, and vice versa. The second problem that we address is in the measurement of regulatory penalties. Previous studies use dummy variables, but using a continuous measure of penalty enables us to differentiate the responses of minor from substantial violators, and avoid measurement error. Finally, we use a richer set of covariates. We include variables that were found to be statistically and economically significant in different previous studies, but which have never been estimated jointly. The results in Essay One indicate that facilities do respond to penalties, but the effect is economically insignificant. We argue that the small effect of penalties in reducing noncompliance comes from the way regulators enforce the regulations: penalties are rarely imposed on detected violators, or if imposed, the amount is usually negligible. The policy implication that arises from our findings is that if regulators want to see a substantial increase in the probability of compliance, it should consider imposing more frequent and severe penalties. The positive effects of more stringent enforcement on compliance rates come from three sources: (1) through specific deterrence effect; (2) through general deterrence effect; and (3) through an increase in the probability of self-reported violations, which allows for more efficient use of inspection budgets. In Essay Two, we extend Harrington’s (1988) theoretical model by (1) introducing an imperfect detection parameter, and (2) relaxing the movement between the groups, as in Friesen (2003). The extended model shows that when detection is imperfect, the zone for the “always-violate” strategy expands. This expansion has two implications. First, when firms are uniformly distributed in cost space, the number of firms that choose the “always-violate” strategy increases. Second, any empirical study that uses major facilities will be more likely to confirm “always-violate” strategy, but fail to confirm the other two strategies discussed in Harrington (1988). We also discuss other possibilities that can contribute to the difference between empirical results and theoretical predictions.

Elevated levels of arsenic and other heavy metals like copper, aluminum, zinc, and selenium in drinking water are found to have deleterious effects on human health. Hence, finding methods for reducing their levels is critical. Iron-coated limestone is used as an adsorption material for the removal of heavy metals from drinking water. Removal of heavy metals by native or uncoated limestone was also observed and used for comparison to and evaluation of the improvement in removal efficiency from the ironcoated material. The removal efficiency with limestone was studied for different concentrations of heavy metals. Kinetic studies were done to determine the decrease in heavy metal concentration as a function of time using limestone. Inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy was used for metal analysis. The effective removal rate of copper and aluminum was found to be four hours and one hour, respectively. This method of removal by using limestone is cost effective, eco-friendly, and hence, of great potential importance for heavy metal removal. Iron-coated limestone is used as an adsorption material for the removal of heavy metals from drinking water. This project will investigate techniques to improve removal efficiency of heavy metals using limestone-based material through adsorption. This research will assist in the development of a granular adsorbent product that will remove metals and that can be manufactured and sold for use at the drinking water source, at point-of-use, or at point-of-entry. Limestone is readily available and its use for metals removal is relatively inexpensive. The technology can be adapted to small, rural water supply systems. Benefits of this research will include a low-cost treatment technology for source reduction that will reduce select metals to below drinking water standards.

n-3 fettsyror har en avgörande roll som komponent av plasmamembranets fosfolipider och tillhör gruppen fleromättade fettsyror. n- 3 fettsyrorna har en inverkan på cellstruktur och funktion och viktiga fettsyror är dokosahexaensyra (DHA) och eikosapentaensyra (EPA). DHA och EPA bildas från Alfalinolensyra (ALA) som är essentiell, det vill säga att den måste tillföras via kosten därför att kroppen inte kan tillverka den själv. ALA måste därför tillföras antingen genom fisk-och skaldjursintag och då framförallt fet fisk eller genom kosttillskott. EPA och DHA finns främst i hjärnan som till 60 % består av fett. Förlossningsdepression är en åkomma som drabbar ungefär 10-20 % av barnafödande kvinnor. Det är en komplex åkomma som kan bero på olika miljöfaktorer, genetiska anlag men kan även bero på kosten. Förlossningsdepression kan bli allvarligt både för modern och för barnet. Syftet med den här studien var att genom vetenskapliga artiklar undersöka om n-3 fettsyror kan ha en inverkan vid förlossningsdepression och isåfall genom vilka mekanismer. Det finns idag inget konkret svar på om n-3 fettsyror kan hjälpa vid förlossningsdepression samtidigt som många studier inom området har gjorts. Denna studie hade därför som syfte att eventuellt kunna bidra med ytterligare kunskap om n-3 fettsyror och förlossningsdepression och om fettsyrorna verkligen hjälper. Resultaten från de sex artiklar i studien som undersöktes visade inte på någon tydlig koppling mellan halten av n-3 fettsyror och förlossningsdepression. I tre av de sex studierna kunde dock en liten effekt observeras. En studie visade också att en högre snarare än en lägre nivå av fettsyror kunde öka risken för depression. Det behövs fler studier inom området för att få ett konkret svar.

Continuous culture fermentation (CCF) was used to test the hypotheses that: marine microalgae (MA) and macroalgae (seaweeds) alter rumen microbial metabolism; MA types differ in abilities to provide rumen escape n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA); and algae have the potential to reduce enteric methane emission. The CCF system of Teather and Sauer (1988) was modified to reduce clogging, refrigerate effluent, and allow for determination of gas production. The CCF systems were inoculated with pooled rumen fluid from 4 cows. Total mixed ration was fed at the rate of 30 g DM d-1. Temperature was maintained at 39 oC, and buffered with artificial saliva to maintain pH 6.2. Response variables were measured from effluent digesta (fatty acids, NH4+-N, digestibility), fermentor contents (CCF density, volatile fatty acids), and the gas phase (CO2, CH4). The experimental design for MA testing was a 3**3 factorial. Treatments consisted of heterotrophic and photoautotrophic MA as well as a 1:1 blend with protection levels of zero, 33 and 50 % of encapsulation (w/w), and fluid turnover rates of 5, 7.5, and 10 % h-1. The seaweed treatments consisted of a PEI shoreweed mix containing Laminaria longicruris and Fucus vesiculosus tested as a component of the mix, and Chondrus crispus and Furcellaria fastigiata tested individually. The design for seaweed testing was an unbalanced 5*5 Latin square. The heterotrophic MA destabilized the digesta mat while the autotroph improved stability. Biohydrogenation was extensive for C18 FA in the basal ration (> 90 %) and less for C22:6n3 (75 %) from the heterotroph and C20:5n3 (60 %) from the photoautotroph. The recovery of PUFA was improved by encapsulation, however PUFA in the MA were not greatly affected and digestibility was improved by turnover rate. Seaweeds had no effect on CCF stability, however they reduced CH4 production without reduction in OM digestibility. The heterotroph reduced overall fermentation resulting in diminished density and volatile fatty acids and NH4+-N concentrations. Seaweed supplementation decreased NH4+-N, CO2 and CH4 production, and increased density.