<p>The local newspapers in Sweden are often used as an arena where groups of different political leanings try to frame current events to suit their purposes. Therefore how the news media presents the discussed issue and how it relates to sustainable development are important for a democratic process. One of the largest infrastructural projects in Sweden currently is the Eastern Link and there are many economical, social and ecological concerns when constructing such a large infrastructural project. It is therefore important to look at how sustainable development is represented in the local news media when concerning this infrastructural project. The aim of this thesis is to study how the local media presents the Eastern Link project in relation to sustainable development and how it affects democracy. This thesis critically discusses the different parts of sustainable development; the impact of and on economical issues, social issues and ecological issues in relation to the study material. Both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach are used as a method. The thesis also links the results of this study to previous research on communication and theories on sustainable development. The results show that neither of the newspapers Folkbladet or NT is presenting the Eastern Link in a balanced way from a sustainability perspective. A majority of the articles are focusing on the social discourse; this differs from previous research where the focus is on the economical discourse.</p>

<p>Nanotechnology plays an important role in today’s society because it allows convergence to the nanoscale, that is to say to the level of atoms and molecules, as part of a miniaturization trend; and also because it is being used for improving human performance or enhancement. Nanotechnology will have a tremendous impact thanks to its potentialities, and the human desire for enhancement - and for some even the desire to reach a posthuman stage. Since nanotechnology-based human applications – cyborgs and implants – might represent a threat to what defines us as humans, namely our human nature, a different approach on the distinction between therapy and enhancement is needed in order to handle those applications in a wiser and more responsible way. This thesis will work on such approach.</p>

För att öka ungdomars intresse för teknik är det viktigt att det finns goda förebilder av båda könen för elever att identifiera sig med. Därför har jag gjort en kvantitativ analys av två läroböcker i teknik för skolår 6-9.Böckerna är publicerade 1995 resp. 2005 och är skrivna av samma författare. Analysen har ett genusperspektiv och frågeställningarna är följande: Har bildmaterialet förändrats så att könen är mer jämt representerade i antal och typ av sysselsättning? Har textmaterialet förändrats så att könen är mer jämt representerade i antal och typ av sysselsättning? Har tillgången på förebilder för båda könen ökat i den senaste upplagan av boken? Resultatet är att könsfördelningen är mycket ojämn till männens fördel och ojämlikheten är större i text än i bild. Ojämlikheten har även ökat mellan de båda upplagorna, främst på grund av den kraftigt ökade förekomsten av män i den senare upplagan. Dock har det skett en kvalitativ förändring mellan upplagorna så att fler människor, både kvinnor och män visas som verkliga, yrkesverksamma individer i den senare upplagan. / To further young people's interest in technology as a curriculum subject and/or career choice, the presence of good role models of both sexes is essential. This caused my investigation of two highschool technology textbooks from a gender perspective. The textbooks were published in 1995 and in 2005 and are written by the same author. The analysis is of a quantitative nature and concerns both immages and text material. The results are mainly that there is a substantial inequality in the representation of the sexes, where males are overrepresented in both images and text material. When compairing both editions of the textbook, inequality has increased in the most recent edition, mostly due to the substantial increase of males in the text matierial in the 2005 edition. However, there has been a qualitative change, where more people, both men and women (mostly men, though) are mentioned, and shown, as individuals with technical occupations.

Nanotechnology plays an important role in today’s society because it allows convergence to the nanoscale, that is to say to the level of atoms and molecules, as part of a miniaturization trend; and also because it is being used for improving human performance or enhancement. Nanotechnology will have a tremendous impact thanks to its potentialities, and the human desire for enhancement - and for some even the desire to reach a posthuman stage. Since nanotechnology-based human applications – cyborgs and implants – might represent a threat to what defines us as humans, namely our human nature, a different approach on the distinction between therapy and enhancement is needed in order to handle those applications in a wiser and more responsible way. This thesis will work on such approach.

The topic of this thesis is the new requirements that will be put upon the facilities management when the elderly are living longer in their own homes, in spite of illness, impairment and old age. For many reasons, especially demographic ones, this issue has come to the fore and since it has substantial political impact and considerably affects our living conditions, it will most certainly appear on the agenda of most Swedish housing companies in the near future. The growing number of inhabitants in need of care and rehabilitation is a current subject in many countries of the industrial world. More medical conditions can be treated, but often at an ever increasing cost. Care and housing are often interlinked and more interest is being paid to the possibility of offering care to elderly in their own homes. This development must lead to a discussion of the home as a hospital ward from time to time, and the demands it places on facilities management and security. So far the prospects of telecare services and "Smart homes" has been very little discussed in parallel, although in many aspects they share the same technological base. The principal interest of the housing companies is to find a role in accordance with their mainstream business, and at the same time co-operate with other municipal actors directly in charge of offering assistance and service. There has been only limited study and research into the complex interaction between technology, home-based social service and the housing company. The purpose here is to develop an understanding of the requirements placed on both the housing company and the CP when a tenant is to be subjected to minor and more extensive care at home, or suffers from an illness or an impairment which requires special equipment or technical adjustment in the home. A model to interpret this situation has been developed in this thesis. / QC 20100806

This project is a part of the collaboration between the Swedish-Albanian Association in Mariestad and the Albanian Centre of Excellence in Tirana. The project is a preliminary feasibility study for an improved irrigation system in the mountain village Lubonja, Korça Region, Albania. When the Albanian communism regime fell in 1990, the infrastructure degenerated and the irrigation systems where almost destroyed. Various organizations, like the World Bank, have assisted with the restoring of the systems, especially in the mountain areas. Today, the most of the systems is in functional condition. The village of Lubonja is located in South-Eastern part of Albania. The village is a part of the Korça Region and is located 27 km from the town Korça. The fields have an altitude that varies from 930 to 870 meters above sea level and have a total approximate size of 490 hectares. Lubonja has a population of almost 560 inhabitants and the prime livelihood is farming. Today, each family is self sufficient and cultivate many kinds of crops on their fields. There are two main streams in the region; the Lubonja River and a river from the Rehova mine area. Lubonja River comes from the mountains and flows through the village, where grey water and black water is added. The other stream is mixed with the polluted water from the old copper mine. There is also a reservoir on the hill side of the mountain which is for irrigation use only. To calculate the needed amount of water, a small field survey has been performed. The different parts in the survey are; soil type, water quality, evaporation and climate data. The results of the field survey were compiled, with assistance of Dr. Kovaçi, Institute of Land in Tirana. It resulted in the irrigation period and the needed amount of water during the irrigation season in Lubonja. The needed amount of water varies from 1250 m3/ha to 4300 m3/ha depending on the crop and the period when irrigation is necessary is from the middle of May to the end of September. The proposed design of the system is a combination of restoring the old canals in the area, where the system was sufficient and installing a pipe system in the area, where the old system was insufficient. The idea is to irrigate the area with the water which is now wasted from the reservoir due to leaking valves and shallow streams. To eliminate the waste of water, a pipe will lead the water from the outlet of the reservoir to a switch where there is a y-crossing. After the switch one pipe goes to the main canal and the other leads the water to area where the pipe system is implemented. The pipe system will prepare for a usage of modern technology like drip irrigation and sprinklers. Each farmer will be able to choose how to use the water by connecting hoses to taps. Due to the high position of the reservoir the pressure in the pipes will be sufficient without using a pump. The calculations for the system are divided into two parts. The first part is the canals, where an appropriate cross section and the needed amount of concrete are calculated. The amount of concrete for the canals is approximately 200 m3. The second part is the pipe system, where the pressure and velocity in the pipes and valves are calculated to be certain that a pump will not be needed and to get proper dimensions of the pipes. The maximum pressure is 1 471 500 Pa, the total outflow when all taps are open is 0.07m3/s and maximum velocity when tap 25 is open is 24.0 m/s. It is important that a system like this is being implemented in close collaboration with the villagers.

Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med barn i förskoleklass och genom enkätundersökningar hos pedagoger har jag fått svar på mina frågeställningar som handlar om pojkar, flickor och deras leksaksval då det gäller teknikbaserade leksaker. Syftet var att försöka se om det fanns skillnader i valet och användandet av dessa leksaker och i så fall försöka tydliggöra dem, och dessutom ta reda på varför barnen är olika i sina leksakspreferenser. Resultatet påvisar att för barnen i denna förskoleklass är konstruktionsleksaker ett frekvent val i verksamheten. Alla barn leker med dessa leksaker, dock skiljer sig preferenserna åt beroende på om man är flicka eller pojke, både i hemmet och i förskoleklassen. Hur barnens preferenser uppkommer finns det delade meningar om, dock är huvudteorin enligt de forskarna/författare jag tagit del av, socialt betingat. Pedagogiska slutsatser är att som pedagog måste man arbeta på ett målmedvetet sätt då det gäller leksaker och genus, man skall alltid ha med sig att leken har stor betydelse i barnens utveckling. Nyckelord: genus, leksaker, preferenser, teknik / Through interviews with children in preschool class and through inquiries by questionnaire with their teachers, I have received answers of my question at issue about boys, girls and their choices of technical toys. The purpose was to see if there were any differences in choosing and using these toys, and also to find out if and why the children have different preferences. The results indicate that for the children in this preschool class the choice of construction toys is common in the activities. All the children play with these toys, but still there are different preferences among girls and boys, both at home and in preschool class. There are differences in opinion among earlier researchers what causes boys and girls to differ in preferences of toys, but the main theory is still that gender differences depend on the family and the community. Pedagogical conclusions are that as a teacher of young children, you have to work with awareness when it comes to toys and gender. You must never forget the important role toys play in the development of the children. Keywords: gender, technical, toys, preferences

Syftet med studien var att observera hur förskolebarn kommunicerar och samspelar vid datorn, både verbalt och icke-verbalt. Syftet var även att belysa pedagogers uppfattningar om barns kommunikation och samspel och hur de organiserar datoranvändandet i verksamheten. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där videoobservationer och intervjuer användes. Totalt observerades 7 barn i 4-5 års ålder och 4 pedagoger intervjuades. Resultatet visade att barnen kommunicerade på olika sätt, detta delades in i 6 skilda kategorier: kommunikation om planering, emotionell kommunikation, icke-datorrelaterad kommunikation, kommunikation med spelets auditiva funktioner, kommunikation med datorn som person och kommunikation om spelet. Som mest höll sig kommunikationen om spelet som barnen spelade. Kroppsspråket bestod till störst del av gester i form av pekningar och vi märkte att gesterna hjälpte till där språket fattades. På båda förskolorna användes datorn i den fria leken till att spela på. Pedagogernas roll i barns spelande var passiv, de hjälpte till om barnen bad om hjälp eller när problem uppstod. Pedagogerna som intervjuades uttryckte att samspelet var positivt och att varken ålder eller kön spelade någon roll men däremot barnens språk- och kunskapsutveckling. Olika faktorer som vi upplever spelar roll i barnens kommunikation och samspel är val av spel/program, kunskaps-/utvecklingsnivån hos barnet, miljön och den vuxnes delaktighet.

This study is an analysis of the traffic situation for pedestrians and bicyclist, unprotected road users, in Accra’s Central Business District. A Swedish method, Calm streets, is used to identify conflicts in the mixed traffic situation. The findings reveal a large amount of conflicts between unprotected road users and motor vehicles. These conflicts cause congestions which have negative implications on the environment, health and economy. In addition an assessment of the quality of and access to pedestrian and bicycle facilities were conducted. This assessment indicates that the quality and access to the facilities are in general low, especially for the disabled, elderly and children. A larger Traffic Network Analysis and a Cost Benefit Analysis are needed to address these problems for stakeholders and decision makers.

The local newspapers in Sweden are often used as an arena where groups of different political leanings try to frame current events to suit their purposes. Therefore how the news media presents the discussed issue and how it relates to sustainable development are important for a democratic process. One of the largest infrastructural projects in Sweden currently is the Eastern Link and there are many economical, social and ecological concerns when constructing such a large infrastructural project. It is therefore important to look at how sustainable development is represented in the local news media when concerning this infrastructural project. The aim of this thesis is to study how the local media presents the Eastern Link project in relation to sustainable development and how it affects democracy. This thesis critically discusses the different parts of sustainable development; the impact of and on economical issues, social issues and ecological issues in relation to the study material. Both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach are used as a method. The thesis also links the results of this study to previous research on communication and theories on sustainable development. The results show that neither of the newspapers Folkbladet or NT is presenting the Eastern Link in a balanced way from a sustainability perspective. A majority of the articles are focusing on the social discourse; this differs from previous research where the focus is on the economical discourse.