High levels of personal car use have negative effects on the environment and on human health. This thesis presents four empirical studies that aimed to develop our knowledge of personal travel choices, focussing on the malleability of attitudes and their sensitivity in relation to specific contexts and goals. The first study (Chapter 2) presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of mechanisms of travel mode choice. The study provides a comprehensive overview of antecedents of car use and non-car use, including sub-group analyses of different contextual factors. Results also highlight the need for standardised measures and consideration of implicit thought processes. The second study (Chapter 3) employs a repertory grid technique to elicit perceptions of seven different transport modes from high mileage car users and non-car users. Comparisons between car users and non-car users highlight potentially effective and ineffective intervention targets. Findings show how sustainable transport might be promoted amongst a portfolio of travel choices. The third study (Chapter 4) utilises qualitative methods to explore the extent to which individuals’ attitude expressions are changeable. The study demonstrates that all participants hold ambivalent and conflicting attitudes, highlighting specific situations in which those attitudes are more likely to be unstable. Two related priming experiments are presented in the final empirical chapter (Chapter 5). Both use survey methodology to investigate whether manipulating the salience of car-use-incongruent goals can lead to more positive attitudes towards and increased willingness to use non-car travel modes. The study confirms that people who are motivated to make changes are a potentially optimal target group for interventions based on subliminal messages. Overall, the research presented in this thesis introduces context sensitivity into the transport literature and offers novel insights into perceptions of a range of travel modes. Recommendations include relevant avenues for future research, findings are discussed in light of implications for transport policy and practice.

O trabalho dos catadores de materiais recicláveis, embora promova ganhos ambientais à sociedade e econômicos à cadeia de reciclagem, está inserido no contexto de informalidade e invisibilidade social. Esses trabalhadores conferem ao lixo o caráter de nova mercadoria com valor de troca, porém sofrem o processo de desgaste da saúde. Este estudo teve como objetivo compreender o processo de trabalho e suas implicações na saúde de catadores de materiais recicláveis, por meio da participação ativa dos próprios trabalhadores. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, desenvolvida com um grupo de catadores autônomos da cidade de Ribeirão Preto - SP, que vendem seus materiais para uma empresa de comércio de recicláveis. A coleta de dados foi desenvolvida entre maio e dezembro de 2013 por meio das seguintes etapas: 1. Observação do trabalho dos catadores durante o processo de venda dos materiais na empresa, com registro dos dados em diário de campo; 2. Entrevistas individuais e semi-estruturadas com 23 catadores, selecionados por meio da amostragem por saturação teórica; 3. Aplicação do método Fotovoz com a participação de dez catadores, visando compreender o cotidiano de trabalho e as circunstâncias que poderiam levá-los ao desgaste da saúde. Nesta etapa, os trabalhadores produziram e apresentaram suas fotografias em grupos de discussão, gerando temas de análise que foram complementados pelas entrevistas individuais, formando um corpus de materialidade essencial para o alcance dos objetivos da pesquisa. O referencial teórico adotado foi o materialismo histórico no estudo da saúde dos trabalhadores. Os dados foram analisados a partir da Hermenêutica-Dialética, que permitiu um salto interpretativo no encontro entre as categorias empíricas e analíticas. Os resultados foram descritos e analisados em torno de quatro categorias temáticas: Condição do catador no interior da cadeia produtiva; Cotidiano de trabalho: \"O catador se vira como pode\"; Cargas de trabalho: manifestações da precarização laboral; Do trabalho ao desgaste da saúde. Os catadores vivenciam um cotidiano laboral caracterizado pela falta de recursos instrumentais e desvalorização do trabalho, intensificado por sua inserção desigual na cadeia de reciclagem, o que se materializa na baixa renda adquirida e no trabalho dominado e explorado. Os catadores também enfrentam cargas laborais, dentre elas a exposição a materiais biológicos, risco de atropelamento, peso excessivo no transporte dos recicláveis e preconceito e desvalorização do trabalho. Tais circunstâncias são agravadas pela ausência de recursos de segurança no trabalho, visto que estão inseridos no mercado informal, sem direitos trabalhistas. Como manifestações do desgaste da saúde, os catadores relataram problemas osteomusculares, ansiedade, estresse e ocorrência de acidentes de trabalho, situações que são potencializadas pela falta de acesso a serviços de saúde e pela necessidade de sobrevivência em detrimento da proteção à saúde. Por fim, considera-se que os catadores necessitam de valorização laboral e de políticas públicas efetivas voltadas à melhoria de suas condições de trabalho e saúde / Even though it promotes environmental gains to the society and economic benefits to the recycling chain, the work of recyclable waste collectors is placed in the context of informality and social invisibility. These workers transform the waste in new merchandise with trade value, but suffer the health weathering process. This study aimed to understand the working process and its implications on the health of recyclable waste collectors through the active participation of the workers. This is a qualitative research, developed with a group of recyclable waste collectors of the city of Ribeirão Preto - SP, that sell their materials for a recycling company. Data collection was carried out between May and December 2013 and followed three steps: 1. Observation of workers on the sale process in the company, recording the data in a field diary; 2. Individual and semi-structured interviews with 23 collectors selected by saturation sampling; 3. Photovoice methodology with the participation of ten waste collectors, in order to understand the perceptions about the work and their implications for health. At this stage, workers produced and presented their pictures in discussion groups, generating central themes that were complemented by individual interviews, producing a set of materials that were essential to achieve the research objectives. The theoretical framework was the historical materialism in the study of the health of workers. Data was analyzed from dialectical hermeneutics, which allowed the scope of interpretation through the articulation between empirical and analytical categories. The results were described and analyzed through four themes: Condition of collector in the production chain; Work routine: \"The collector does what he can\"; Workloads: manifestations of precarious working conditions; From the work to health weathering. The recyclable waste collectors experience a labor characterized by a lack of instrumental resources and devaluation of work, intensified by their unequal insertion in the recycling chain, expressed by low income acquired and by the dominated and exploited labor. They also face various workloads, including exposure to biological materials, trampling risk, transport of high amount of recyclable materials and prejudice and devaluation of work performed. Such circumstances are aggravated by the lack of safety promotion resources at work, as they are inserted in the informal market and deprived of labor rights. As the health weathering manifestations, the collectors reported musculoskeletal problems, anxiety, stress and work accidents. These situations are enhanced by the lack of access to health services and the need for survival at the expense of health protection. Finally, it is considered that the recyclable waste collectors need more social recognize and effective public policies in order to improve the work and health conditions

Syfte: Syftet var att belysa den äldre kvinnans erfarenheter i samband med förskrivning, användning och uppföljning av urininkontinenshjälpmedel i öppenvården. Metod: Kvalitativ intervjustudie med innehållsanalys. Baserad på 12 enskilda semistrukturerade intervjuer i deltagarnas hem. Resultat: Ur analysen framkom att flertalet av deltagarna saknade information om tillvägagångssättet och användningen av urininkontinenshjälpmedel. Trots detta är mer än hälften av deltagarna nöjda med sin förskrivning. Vidare visar analysen att hemtjänsten är en viktig arbetsgrupp för att uppföljning och utprovning sker. Flertalet av deltagarna upplever att uppföljningsansvaret låg på dem själva. Nästan alla deltagare i intervjustudien är mycket nöjda med bemötandet från vården. Slutsats: Föreliggande studie visar att det fanns ett behov av bättre information från förskrivaren, där det tydligt framgår vilka urininkontinenshjälpmedel som kan erbjudas och hur hjälpmedlet används samt uppföljning av hjälpmedlet. Vidare visade föreliggande studie att hemtjänsten var en viktig arbetsgrupp för deltagarna, för att hemtjänsten ser till att det fungerar med urininkontinenshjälpmedel i det dagliga livet även om det inte var korrekt utprovat. Samtliga deltagare i föreliggande studie uttrycker en känsla av att det inte var något märkvärdigt att använda urininkontinenshjälpmedel. / Aim: The aim was to elucidate the older woman's experiences in connection with prescription, use and follow-up of urinary incontinence aids in outpatient care. Method: Qualitative interview study with content analysis. Based on 12 individual semi-structured interviews in the home of the participants. Results: The analysis showed that most of the participants lacked information about the approach and use of urinary incontinence aids. Despite this, more than half of the participants are satisfied with their prescription. Furthermore, the analysis showed that home care services are an important working group for monitoring and testing incontinence aids. Most of the participants feel that the follow-up responsibility lay on themselves. Almost all participants in the interview study are very satisfied with how they were treated. All participants have accepted their situation in using urinary incontinence aids. Conclusion: The present study shows that there was a need for better information from the prescriber, where it is clear which urinary incontinence aids can be offered and how the device is used and follow-up of the aid. Furthermore, the present study showed that home care was an important working group for the participants, because the home care service ensures that it works with urinary incontinence aids in daily life even though it was not properly tested. All participants in the present study express the feeling that using urinary incontinence aids was not remarkable.

Forskning om det mänskliga minnet är omfattande och likaså forskning kring evolutionsteorin, men studier som undersöker hur människors barndomsminnen har påverkat deras beteenden och synsätt i vuxen ålder utifrån evolutionsteorin är mer sällsynta. Avsikten med den föreliggande studien var att bidra till att denna kunskapslucka fylls igen. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre pedagoger, en socialpedagog, två psykologistudenter, två sociologistudenter samt en sjuksköterskestudent genomfördes med fokus på vilka barndomsminnen de haft, negativa eller positiva, samt hur de upplevt att det påverkat deras beteenden och synsätt i vuxna livet. Informanternas ålder var mellan 25 – 66 år och det var fem män och fyra kvinnor. Utifrån informanternas svar undersöktes om dessa kunde kopplas till evolutionsteorin och om barndomsminnena hade överlevnadsvärden. I resultatet av den tematiska analysen framträdde sju teman: 1. Rädsla, 2. Utanförskap, 3. Hjälpsamhet, 4. Föräldra-/vuxenroll, 5. Tillhörighet, 6. Svek/brist på tillit och 7. Negativa erfarenheter. Studiens resultat ger förståelse för hur barndomsminnen kan påverka människors beteenden samt hur evolutionsteorin kan ta sig uttryck hos människor idag. Resultatet visar människors strävan att ständigt förbättra sina egenskaper genom att lära sig av sina eller andras misstag. Studien ger därmed ett psykologiskt bidrag till den kvalitativa forskningen om hur människors minnen kan anpassas genom generationer utifrån evolutionsteorin. / Research in human memory is extensive and so is research on the theory of evolution, but studies that investigate how people's childhood memories have influenced their behaviors and approaches in adulthood based on the theory of evolution are rare. The purpose of the present study was to contribute to the completion of this knowledge gap. Semi-structured interviews with three educators, a social educator, two psychology students, two sociology students and a nursing student were conducted focusing on which childhood memories they have had, negative or positive, and how they have experienced how it has affected their behavior and approach in adult life. The informants were between 25 and 66 and there were five men and four women. Based on the informants' answers, we examined whether these could be linked to the theory of evolution and if childhood memories has survival values whether these could be linked to the theory of evolution and if childhood memories has survival values. In the result of the thematic analysis, seven themes emerged: 1. Fear, 2. Alienation, 3. Helpfulness, 4. Parental / Adult Role, 5. Belonging, 6. Betrayal / Lack of Trust and 7. Negative experiences. The study's results give an understanding of how childhood memories can affect people's behavior and how evolution  theory can be applied in people today. The result shows people's efforts to constantly improve their characteristics by learning from their or other’s mistakes. The study thus makes a psychological contribution to the qualitative research on how people's memories can be adapted through generations based on the theory of evolution.

<p>Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka ett relativt outforskat område, nämligen missbruk bland assyrier/syrianer. Trots att folkgruppen har levt i Sverige i drygt 40 år och utgör en av landets större invandrargrupper, har det bedrivits väldigt lite forskning gällande missbruk bland populationen. Förhoppningen med studien är att den kan tillföra ytterligare kunskap som kan vara av betydelse för de som på något sätt kommer i kontakt med assyriska/syrianska missbrukare, exempelvis sociala myndigheter, behandlingsinstitutioner med flera, men även att studien kan frambringa en konstruktiv debatt, som författaren anser saknas bland den assyriska/syrianska folkgruppen, och belysa temat missbruk ytterligare.</p><p>Med hjälp av den kvalitativa metoden har fem före detta missbrukande assyrier/syrianer, med en bakgrund i ett narkotika- och/eller spelmissbruk studerats. Huvudfrågan har varit att studera hur respondenterna hamnat i ett missbruk, tiden under missbruk, samt hur man därefter tagit sig ur missbruket. Empirin insamlades via fyra enskilda intervjuer i det fysiska rummet samt en via e-mail. Resultaten har relaterats till de olika teorierna avvikande beteende, stämplingsteorin samt Goldbergs avvikarkarriärmodell.</p><p>Studiens huvudresultat är att respondenterna, i varierande grad, har upplevt en svår uppväxt. För flera har den ena föräldern gått bort i tidig ålder och i andra fall att föräldern helt enkelt varit frånvarande. Vidare har även några fått utstå fysiskt våld i olika former, hot, mobbning eller diskriminering, antingen i skolan, i hemmet eller ute i samhället. Det har visat sig att respondenterna upplevt en eller flera kriser kombinerat med sorg, vilket skapat en otrygghet i deras liv.</p><p>Vägen till att bryta sig ur missbruket har sett olika ut för individerna. Gemensamt för dem alla är att närmaste familjen fungerat som ett stöd. En av respondenterna kom att bli frälst och en annan genomgick diverse terapibehandlingar. Övriga har tagit sig ur på egen hand med stöd från familjen.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study is to investigate a relatively unknown domain, namely the one of abuse amongst Assyrians/Syriacs. Although the community has lived in Sweden for more than 40 years and yields one for the countries larger immigrant groups, there has been little research performed addressing the question of abuse within the community. Hopefully this study will provide useful knowledge to those whom in one way or another deal with abusing Assyrians/Syriacs, such as for instance rehabilitation institutes or social welfare authorities. It might also promote a constructive debate on the issue within this specific community, which the author thinks is lacking, and to further shed light on the question of abuse in general.</p><p>By the method of qualitative study, five former abusing Assyrians/Syriacs, with backgrounds in drug substance abuse and/or gambling addiction have been studied. The primary questions have been those of how the subjects got into abusing, the time during the abuse, and how the abuse was overcome. Empirical data was collected through four individual face-to-face interviews and one via e-mail, and the resulting conclusions were drawn by relating the data to the theories of deviant behavior, labeling theory and Goldbergs deviant career model.</p><p>The main result of the study is that the respondents to various degrees have suffered a difficult childhood. In the case of many of them one parent was deceased prematurely or for others the parent was largely absent. Furthermore, some had to endure physical violence in different forms, threats, bullying, or discrimination, either in school, at home or by society. It became evident that the respondents have experienced one or several crisis in combination with grief, which has created a sense of insecurity on their lives.</p><p>The path away from abuse has been different for the individuals, although they all share having had the support from the closest family. One of the respondents became a born-again Christian and another went through various therapy rehabilitation treatments. The others have managed on their own with the support from family.</p>

<p>The internationalization of firms, especially among SMEs, represents big challenges that must be addressed. For this thesis, the internationalization process of the Swedish company Big Image Systems AB is studied. The purpose of the thesis is to generate a theoretical model to satisfactorily describe and explain the internationalization process of Big Image Systems AB. The case study methodology is our research strategy for this qualitative study. Based on theories about SMEs and internationalization, and after exhaustive analysis and selection, we developed an internationalization model for Big Image. The so called Big Image Model considers the dimensions of internationalization developed by Welch and Luostarinen (1998) and the entrepreneurial perspective by Andersson (2001) to satisfactorily describe and explain the important factors involved in the process. We observe that the entrepreneur plays a central role towards internationalization, and that theoretical guidance can make SMEs learn from their own experiences and, as a consequence, progress.</p>

<p>The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how the welfare officer who works in the child and youth<strong>-</strong> habilitation is documenting in boys and girls journals. We also want to see if there are any differences or similarities in the journals on the basis of a gender perspective? The investigation is made from ten journals, five boys and five girls in the ages from 13 -18 years. The analysis which proceeds from prior research made on this area and from a number of gender theories and gender perspectives is based on a hermeneutic nature. The results show that the welfare officers make more documentation about the boys´ school situation than the girls´. Although is the documentation made more detailed about the girls´ feelings and general health. In the girls’ journals the family’s health gets more attention than in the boys´ ones where there is more focus on the boy himself. Further the results show that the girls altogether have had almost double as much contact whith the welfare officers than the boys had. Concerning documenting sparetimes interests the result show that three of the girls like riding while two of the boys do sports in their sparetime.</p>

Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka ett relativt outforskat område, nämligen missbruk bland assyrier/syrianer. Trots att folkgruppen har levt i Sverige i drygt 40 år och utgör en av landets större invandrargrupper, har det bedrivits väldigt lite forskning gällande missbruk bland populationen. Förhoppningen med studien är att den kan tillföra ytterligare kunskap som kan vara av betydelse för de som på något sätt kommer i kontakt med assyriska/syrianska missbrukare, exempelvis sociala myndigheter, behandlingsinstitutioner med flera, men även att studien kan frambringa en konstruktiv debatt, som författaren anser saknas bland den assyriska/syrianska folkgruppen, och belysa temat missbruk ytterligare. Med hjälp av den kvalitativa metoden har fem före detta missbrukande assyrier/syrianer, med en bakgrund i ett narkotika- och/eller spelmissbruk studerats. Huvudfrågan har varit att studera hur respondenterna hamnat i ett missbruk, tiden under missbruk, samt hur man därefter tagit sig ur missbruket. Empirin insamlades via fyra enskilda intervjuer i det fysiska rummet samt en via e-mail. Resultaten har relaterats till de olika teorierna avvikande beteende, stämplingsteorin samt Goldbergs avvikarkarriärmodell. Studiens huvudresultat är att respondenterna, i varierande grad, har upplevt en svår uppväxt. För flera har den ena föräldern gått bort i tidig ålder och i andra fall att föräldern helt enkelt varit frånvarande. Vidare har även några fått utstå fysiskt våld i olika former, hot, mobbning eller diskriminering, antingen i skolan, i hemmet eller ute i samhället. Det har visat sig att respondenterna upplevt en eller flera kriser kombinerat med sorg, vilket skapat en otrygghet i deras liv. Vägen till att bryta sig ur missbruket har sett olika ut för individerna. Gemensamt för dem alla är att närmaste familjen fungerat som ett stöd. En av respondenterna kom att bli frälst och en annan genomgick diverse terapibehandlingar. Övriga har tagit sig ur på egen hand med stöd från familjen. / The purpose of this study is to investigate a relatively unknown domain, namely the one of abuse amongst Assyrians/Syriacs. Although the community has lived in Sweden for more than 40 years and yields one for the countries larger immigrant groups, there has been little research performed addressing the question of abuse within the community. Hopefully this study will provide useful knowledge to those whom in one way or another deal with abusing Assyrians/Syriacs, such as for instance rehabilitation institutes or social welfare authorities. It might also promote a constructive debate on the issue within this specific community, which the author thinks is lacking, and to further shed light on the question of abuse in general. By the method of qualitative study, five former abusing Assyrians/Syriacs, with backgrounds in drug substance abuse and/or gambling addiction have been studied. The primary questions have been those of how the subjects got into abusing, the time during the abuse, and how the abuse was overcome. Empirical data was collected through four individual face-to-face interviews and one via e-mail, and the resulting conclusions were drawn by relating the data to the theories of deviant behavior, labeling theory and Goldbergs deviant career model. The main result of the study is that the respondents to various degrees have suffered a difficult childhood. In the case of many of them one parent was deceased prematurely or for others the parent was largely absent. Furthermore, some had to endure physical violence in different forms, threats, bullying, or discrimination, either in school, at home or by society. It became evident that the respondents have experienced one or several crisis in combination with grief, which has created a sense of insecurity on their lives. The path away from abuse has been different for the individuals, although they all share having had the support from the closest family. One of the respondents became a born-again Christian and another went through various therapy rehabilitation treatments. The others have managed on their own with the support from family.

Bakgrund: Behov av dialysbehandling är en omvälvande förändring av patientens livsvärld. Behandlingen är livsuppehållande fram till dess att eventuell möjlighet till njurtransplantation ges. Trötthet samt viktuppgång mellan dialysbehandlingarna, orsakad av minskad filtration i njurarna har i tidigare studier framställts som försämrad livskvalitet vid dialysberoende. Hur beroendet av behandling påverkar det dagliga livet är dock personligt och varierande. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva hur patienter upplevde att vara beroende av dialysbehandling. Metod: Intervjuer gjordes med nio informanter som lever med behov av dialysbehandling.  Intervjumaterialet analyserades därefter med kvalitativ innehållsanalys, enligt Graneheim och Lundman. Resultat: Trots undervisning före dialysstart om vad beroendet kan komma att innebära, beskrevs beskedet som chockartat när de förstod att dialysberoendet var livslångt. Tidsåtgången för behandling minskade möjligheterna att arbeta. Dialysberoendet påverkade relationen till närstående. Betydelsen av delaktighet i behandlingsbeslut, planering och genomförande beskrevs som en känsla av självständighet och ökad egenkontroll. Möjlighet till njurtransplantation sågs som ett hopp. Slutsats: De hälsovinster som de dialysberoende patienterna beskrev genom möjlighet till delaktighet och självständighet, ansågs medverka till ökad livskvalitet – i väntan på hoppet om njurtransplantation.

This study investigates how risk management in general, and hedging in specific is used  in industries that produce and sell raw materials. We investigated the hedging strategies in the Swedish mining industry. We gathered data for this study from five interviews with CFO’s and Head of treasury’s from five different Swedish mining companies in order to get their  expertise and opinions of hedging. We found that companies only hedged their commodity prices if they were forced by circumstances outside of their control. We also found interesting similarities and differences between state-owned and publicly traded companies.