The aim of this study is to highlight problems regarding the status of children in determining the granting of residence permits. Central to the study are the rules contained in the Swedish Aliens Act (2005:716) about hearing children in the course of proceedings and the child’s best interests. The rules are based on Articles 3 and 12 respectively, in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). They were introduced into the Swedish legislation in 1997, after an intense debate questioning whether Sweden was meeting its obligations under the Convention. The application in aliens matters has, however, continued to be criticized after the revision of 1997, especially in matters concerning children. In 2006 a new Aliens Act came into force, involving a shift in the handling of such matters from administrative authorities and the Government to a system where appeals are tried in administrative courts. The legislation also involves comprehensive changes concerning the material legislation. The question has been raised, however, as to whether these changes have had any vital impact concerning the general construction of the material regulation. The apparent gap between the legislator’s intentions and the application of the law raises questions about the limitations of law and how the spirit and intentions of the CRC have been implemented in the Aliens Act, and, in view of this, the limits of law. The study involves an analysis of the fundamental premises that the legislation and application rest on, the general provisions of the proceedings and the technical formulation and also the material content of these rules. There is also an analysis of the impact and function of the legislation in practical applications. The conclusion is that the legislation allows extensive scope for assessing the circumstances in each case. This is the case, particularly in matters concerning children. Nevertheless, in practical applications, children often become irrelevant; children are simply not the real focus of the laws that affect them. Key words: Children’s rights, residence permit, asylum, immigration, equality, feminist perspectives. Eva Nilsson, Juridiska institutionen, Umeå universitet, 901 87 Umeå.

This thesis is about the every day life of children who suffer from economic hardship. The aim is, from the children's point of view, to create an understanding of the consequences that economic hardship has on their relationships with their parents and other children. A further aim is to gain an understanding of how children act in relation to the families' economic situation and how they experience their every day life and general living conditions. Parents have also been interviewed about the families' general living conditions and the interaction between children and parents in relation to the economic situation. The empirical data has been collected over a period of fourteen months. Fourteen children aged 7-19 years and eight parents in seven families have been interviewed on five occasions. A total of 44 interviews have been conducted. The theoretical foundation of the thesis is childhood sociology, symbolic interactionism and social identity. The conclusions of this thesis can be summarized in two major results. The first is that economic hardship is of importance in the relationship with other children and in the interaction between children and their parents. The children's possibilities of participating together with peers through possessions and activities are affected to a varying extent depending on the circumstances. The relationship with their parents is also affected by children having to take economic responsibility and by children cooperating with them. Economic hardship also causes a strain on the relationship. The second major result is that children are active in forming theirs and their families' every day life in relation to the economic limits. On the basis of their understanding and their definition of the situation they choose different strategies, the aims of which are either to live within the limitations of the situation, so-called reactive strategies, or to change their own situation and sometimes also the situation of their household. These are defined as proactive strategies in the thesis.

The concern for the environment and social aspects have been highlighting in the concept of ecotourism. Tourism is a growing industry, where ecotourism is one of the fastest growing components in tourism today. The increase of amount of travels and tourists in the world, has led to the acknowledgement of tourism as part of the emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the framework of sustainable development in tourism has been developed as well as ecotourism. This thesis is aiming to study the ecotourism operators’ management of facing dilemmas in the ecotourism industry in Sweden. Therefore, the study is contributing to new knowledge in the lack of research in the field. We have identified the knowledge gap which is from the frontline practitioner’s, ecotourism operator point of view on how to manage dilemmas in this strong sustainable industry, ecotourism. We structure a literature review where we provide with broader definitions of the major concepts: tourism, sustainable development and ecotourism. Ecotourism is considered as possessing strong sustainability features. The literature review is focused mainly in Swedish context and literature supporting the business purpose of a small firm has been highlighted. The theoretical framework is also presenting research done about the different aspects of sustainable development (economic, social and environment) with the context in ecotourism, which is also presenting the dilemmas that can occur among the perspectives. The theoretical framework ends with some suggestions on how tour operators balance the three perspectives, i.e. economic, social and environment. The study takes form as a qualitative study with an exploratory approach. We are aiming at providing new information and knowledge in the field, which has been lacking in research in the Swedish context. By having telephone interviews with eight ecotourism operators across Sweden, we are aiming to gain heterogeneity in respondents’ selection and try to find out if there are any common thoughts and at the same time unique practices among the respondents. Our main conclusions are answering the question on how the ecotourism operators manage the dilemmas in the ecotourism industry in Sweden. We acknowledge that ecotourism operators are expected to aim at strong sustainability which concerns on the environmental and social issues. This frames their way of operating the ecotourism business. The ecotourism operators manage dilemmas by communicating, educating, cooperating, marketing, raising price (or no raise), limiting number of tourists and by being professional.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of leadership on co-workers during a re-organization. Our framing of the problem is based on a book written by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal (2007) “Reframing organizations – artistry, choice and leadership” and their four perspectives on leadership. The questions that our study is based on are: <ul type="disc">What leadership perspective was characteristic for the chief of staff during the re-organization? How did the employees experience the leadership of the chiefs during the re-organization? In what way do the chiefs of staff feel that their leadership affected the employees during the re-organization?   To get a deeper understanding in this subject we conducted interviews with the two chiefs of staff and their employees in a small suburb to Stockholm, Sweden. In our background we described the history of the suburb and why this re-organization is taking place. Thereafter we account for research in this area of expertise. In chapter five we account for the four perspectives and organization culture. We analyzed our interviewed material from these four perspectives and organization culture. Thereafter we conducted a conclusion based on the analyzed material. We concluded that both chiefs of staff were influenced by all four perspectives and this influence had different impacts on their employees. One chief were influenced by a Human Resource-perspective and a perspective focusing on structure. The second chief was also influenced by a perspective focusing on structure but also the perspective that focuses on politics.

De nombreuses perspectives ont été et sont utilisées dans le monde de la représentation. Choisir l'une d'elle reflète une certaine façon de percevoir le monde. Le réalisme du point vue unique et fixe, semble ne répondre qu'à une convention culturelle. En effet, lorsqu'on regarde quelque chose, le regard balaye la scène avec deux yeux. Nous avons donc deux points de vue mobiles. Dans l'abstraction représentationnelle occidentale, le spectateur, en tant que corps, est réduit à un oeil, lui même compressé en un point. Le questionnement sur le réalisme de l'image s'impose. L'image dite réaliste renvoie-t-elle à une réalité, en tant que telle, existant dans le monde de façon absolue et directement accessible à l'exclusion de tout code transcriptif, ou à un concept culturellement acquis comme réaliste et qui ne renvoie qu'à lui-même? Le travail de cette thèse consiste à introduire dans la synthèse d'images différents systèmes de représentation, dont le "réalisme" de chacun, d'un point de vue intellectuel, est aussi légitime que le "réalisme" photographique. Cette recherche ne s'inscrit pas dans le cadre d'une recherche scientifique, dont l'objectif serait de construire des modèles dont les règles de fonctionnement correspondraient à des lois absolues de la nature. Nous nous trouvons en présence de modèles issus des seules sciences humaines et d'interprétations sensorielles. L'objectif de ce travail se résume donc à extraire les concepts qui régissent chaque style de représentation. En essayant de rester fidèle à ces concepts de base, nous définissons des fonctions de projection, et dans le cadre de nos résultats nous ne conservons que les images dont l'esthétique nous semble radicalement nouvelle. L'enjeu n'est donc pas de faire de la perspectiva naturalis de façon radicale et ressemblante, ni de systématiser les principes du Cubisme pour réaliser un modeleur cubiste, mais, à partir de différentes idées sur le "réalisme", de créer de nouvelles images, propres à surprendre dans leur organisation formelle. Ce travail théorique sera complété par un développement plastique comprenant une exploitation picturale et vidéo de ces modèles de projection.

This thesis addresses why a comprehensive art education curriculum needs to merge with visual culture in order to better serve current elementary students today. The review of literature supports this theory and proves that the two approaches work together to make learning relevant and effective. The units of study provided make up a guideline that show teachers how to include visual culture into the current comprehensive art education structure. This allows students to bring their own ideas and experiences into the classroom, and results in making the visual arts more personal. Following this curriculum will help students own their education and ultimately gain higher level thinking and learning in the visual arts as well as other subject areas.

In this thesis it is argued that the use and design of computer artefacts can be fruitfully studied by focusing on use problems and design contradictions, defined as problems and contradictions in relation to organisational improvements planned by the IT-practitioner. The position taken in this thesis is that the important thing with computer artefacts and systems design is their contributions to human organisations at large. The purpose is to contribute to the design of contributing computer artefacts by studying, first, use problems and design contradictions, and second, the importance of IT-perspectives held by the practitioner. That is, the practitioner's tacit assumptions about what computers really are. Based on Action Science three case studies are made. What was found in these cases were use problems such as context dependency, discriminating information systems, misinterpretations and misuse. Among design contradictions were observed narrow design domains, unimaginative and pointless staff trainings, too fixed positions concerning goals and problems, and an assumption concerning relevant knowledge that effectively was excluding important knowledge related to the organisation at large. In all of these cases a tool perspective was interpreted as the dominating IT-perspective. In order to find out whether or not a tool perspective can be regarded as causing the use problems and design contradictions observed, the thesis examines this IT-perspective more closely. The conclusion made from this examination is that the tool perspective can be causing the problems and contradictions observed. In an attempt to formulate an alternative to this tool perspective theoretical studies into systems thinking and reflective practice were made, ending up in a framework labeled contextual IT-understanding. It is a framework built on principles such as a systems view, purposefulness, product-producer perspective, and constructivism. It is also built on assumptions such as that practitioners have a capacity to make sense out of a situation that initially makes no sense, that their actions are formed through a reflective conversation with the materials of the situation, that design is a matter of reflection, both in and on the actual action, and that in training it is important to make the trainee start to reflect on the tacit assumptions guiding her actions. According to a contextual IT-understanding an information system is a systemic and culturally dynamic artefact and as such, an artefact that will serve certain interests at the expense of others, will be ambiguous, will be misinterpreted, will be misused, etcetera. An information system should also be considered as part of a larger value creating process under the constant influence of a tacit dimension, implying that the relation between an information system and organisational improvements is not causal, that a lot of important design will take place in use, etcetera. More radically though, every information system can be seen as having a tacit dimension acting like an intellectual superstructure, and this tacit dimension can be fruitfully utilized in design. On the overall level a conclusion is drawn that both researchers and practitioners should emphasis the IT-perspectives held by IT-practitioners and the tacit dimensions influencing practice. / digitalisering@umu

From a contemporary international perspective, there are two truly global religious movements of enormous vitality. One is a resurgent Islam, the other Pentecostal Protestantism. What makes the growth of Pentecostal Protestantism so fascinating is the fact that it’s transforming a region where the Catholic Church has for five centuries reigned supreme in its religious monopoly. While the first century of proselytizing in Latin America was relatively minute (constituting only 1 percent of the overall population in 1950), Pentecostalism began to show signs of its potential vitality in the 1960s and 1970s.2 Evangelical conversion became more pervasive in 1980s, and by the early 1990s church membership included over 50 million followers (11 percent of the population).3 Today there are over 90 million Protestants in Latin America, the vast majority of which are Pentecostal and Charismatic.4 What seemed like a seemingly insignificant movement before World War II has grown to include thirteen percent of the entire Latin American population.5 The six-fold growth of evangelicalism from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century has led many scholars like David Stoll to ask, “Is Latin America Turning Protestant?”6

The lower Churchill River has been an important travel route for people living in its vicinity for a long period of time. Churchillians’ have used it for subsistence harvesting, as their potable water source and as a place of recreation and relaxation. Previous research has documented the importance of the Churchill River to the residents and has explored how the Churchill River Diversion affected the community of Churchill (Boothroyd, 1992; 2000; Four Directions Consulting Group, 1994; 1995). The purpose of this project was to identify how Churchill residents used the lower Churchill River (from 1970 to 2006), recognizing three distinct periods of time. Twenty interviews were conducted with former or current long-term residents of Churchill, as well as two interviews with experts on issues concerning the lower Churchill River. Many interviewees stated that additional negotiations and measures are required before they deem the mitigation compensation package from Manitoba Hydro to be adequate considering the impact of the diversion on the residents of Churchill. / October 2007

This ethnographic study investigated the interactions between the musical lives of adolescents and school music-learning culture in a suburban high school. Participants included two music teachers and seven adolescents. Framed within a symbolic interactionist perspective (Blumer, 1969), data were collected via methods consistent with qualitative inquiry, including an innovative data collection technique utilizing music elicitation interviews with adolescents. Findings emerged from the data via thematic analysis (Grbich, 2007). Findings indicate limited interactions between the musical lives of adolescents and school music-learning culture because participants portrayed and experienced a dichotomy between the musical assumptions and practices inside and outside of school. Interactions occurred when participants engaged in sharing musical capital that overcame segmentation among music learning, out-of-school experience, and elective participation in secondary school music programs. Supporting findings indicate that the school music-learning culture derived from teachers' negotiating between two major influences: 1) their own musical values, which were based on their musical backgrounds and the long-established professional tradition of formal performance emphases in school music programs; and 2) the musical values of their students. Adolescents self-defined their musical lives as largely informal musical activities commonly experienced outside of school. They expressed a wealth of personal musical knowledge and described their affinity for music across four dimensions: 1) expression and feeling, 2) relevance, 3) quality in artistry and craftsmanship, and 4) diversity. Three themes describe how adolescents’ personal relationships with music influenced their beliefs and choices regarding music participation and learning: 1) musical roots: nurturing personal and social connections with music, 2) motivated learning: seeking relevance and challenge, and 3) finding a voice: striving toward musical independence. Findings indicate that music teachers may enhance interactions between adolescents’ musical lives and school music-learning culture by acknowledging students’ musical engagement outside of school, honoring their personal musical knowledge and interests, and making them collaborators in developing music-learning models rooted in their affinity for, and personal relationships with, music.