The study presented in this paper examines languaging in a "bilingual" school setting. Theoverall aim here is to explore young people’s doing of multilingualism as well as social posi-tioning in and through the everyday social practices where literacy is salient. Anchored inperspectives that highlight the social construction of reality, and located in the geopoliticalspace of Sweden, this study investigates an educational setting where Swedish and Finnishare used as the primary languages of instruction but where other linguistic varieties arepresent. In the paper, the analytically relevant concept of chaining is empirically illustratedthrough the analysis of ethnographically created data. These data include video recordingsof classroom interaction and materials framed within the school diary literacy practice. Thechained flow of various oral, written and multimodal varieties in human meaning-makingis presented as an analytical finding.

Psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorers inverkan på hälsa och produktivitet kan sammanfattas i ett antal balanser; balanserna krav–kontroll, ansträngning–belöning, arbete–återhämtning, mål–resurser och kvantitet–kvalitet. Trots befintlig kunskap saknas interventionsstudier som fokuserat på dessa balanser. Här redovisas resultat från ett pilotprojekt där medarbetare och chefer deltog i en intervention med fokus på dialog om uppdraget och arbetsmiljöns balanser.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur lärare och elever värderar ämnet hem- och konsumentkunskap (HK) jämfört med idrott och hälsa (IDH) i grundskolan. Undersök-ningen görs ur ett genusperspektiv och resultatet kommer även att jämföras med politikers värdering av ämnet. De frågeställningar jag utgått ifrån är följande:

 Hur värderarlärare och elever HK i förhållande till IDH?

 Finns det några skillnader mellan kvinnliga och manliga lärares syn på HK och IDH, och vilka är dessa i sådana fall?

 Finns det några skillnader mellan flickors och pojkars syn på HK och IDH, och vilka är dessa i sådana fall?

För att få fram elevers och lärares värderingar kring skolämnena har en kvantitativ under-sökningsmetod använts. Resultatet visar att HK varken har hög eller låg status bland lärare och elever då ämnet i genomsnitt placerar sig i mitten bland alla ämnen. Värt att notera är att IDH, som är den manliga motsvarigheten till det kvinnliga HK-ämnet, får hög status i skolan då det ses som ett viktigt hälsoämne. Hälsoaspekten, som har en framträdande roll även i HK-ämnet, uppmärksammas dock inte av deltagarna i studien.

The purpose of the study is to explore whether competence development can serve as a competitive advantage when a municipality intends to attract and retain preschool teachers. The theoretical background begins with which competence enhancements the municipality has worked with to become an attractive employer. Then follows a theoretical description of how competence development can serve as a means of competition and schools as attractive employers. The method used in the collection of data were semi-structured interviews. The research approach was inspired by phenomenology and functioned as a guideline during the work with the collection of data and choice of method of analysis. Since the selection of participants for the study consisted of two groups; preschool teachers and preschool teacher students, an interview guide for each group was created that was shaped by the study's purpose and questions. The result presents the interviewees' experiences of competence development as a positive thing. The preschool teachers expressed it to be a deciding factor in their choice of employer while the preschool teacher students stated that salary is a factor of major importance. The result also presents other general factors that are of great importance; work environment, support from managers and size of child groups which all also affect the interviewees' choice of employer. Other potential areas to further develop for the municipality and its kindergartens are also brought up.

Samhällskunskapsämnet är under ständig förändring, precis som samhället. I kursplanen för samhällskunskap har flera centrala innehåll tillkommit i och med läroplansreformen 2011. Det är inte längre ett ämne som enbart berör demokratisk fostran och kunskap. I undervisningen för årskurs 4–6 ska ”Hur könsroller och sexualitet framställs i medier och populärkultur” och ”Familjen och olika samlevnadsformer. Sexualitet, könsroller och jämställdhet” (Skolverket, 2011b, s. 201) behandlas. Denna studie utreder vad könsroller, sexualitet och jämställdhet innebär samt vikten av ett normkritiskt förhållningssätt i samhällskunskapslärarens undervisning. Det redogörs även för hur kön och sexualitet gestaltas i medier. Syftet med studien är att redogöra för hur synen på sexualitet och könsroller framställs och förstås i olika sammanhang. Metoden som har använts är en kvalitativ litteraturstudie där vi analyserat tidigare forskning. Resultatet av studien visar att alla människor är medskapare och återskapare av normer, vilket inte behöver vara dåligt i sig, men de bör inte föras vidare utan reflektion. Det är alla lärares uppdrag att ifrågasätta normer som kan vara av kränkande eller diskriminerande karaktär. Det är därför viktigt att samhällskunskapslärare utmanar och ifrågasätter stereotypa gestaltningar av kön och sexualitet i sin undervisning. I studien framgår även att många lärare undervisar om jämställdhet och genus utan att ha gedigen kunskap i ämnet. Undervisningen baseras då på lärarens åsikter i ämnet, när det istället bör baseras på kunskap och vetenskap.

Women's empowerment is a current and crucial issue of our time. There is increasing recognition that the economic empowerment of women is essential both to realize women’s rights, and toachieve broader development goals such as economic growth, poverty reduction, health,education and welfare. This qualitative study explores women's empowerment through skills education and employment in Bali, Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the respondents experience of changes in their everyday life conditions, with particular focus on economic empowerment, with reference to other spheres of the women's empowerment. The aim is to provide knowledge that may be valuable for the work with vocational education and training for women's empowerment in the future. The study relied on semi structured interviews with Indonesian women exploring individual experiences in their everyday local context. Empowerment is a complex topic with an irreducible subjective element. The results showed empowerment at the individual level and as the research highlighted changes in different areas oftheir life was it proved difficult to grasp the extent of this change. In general, the participants experiences somewhat differed, depending on internal and external factors as well as context, describing varied changes in their life conditions. However, all the women explain the outcomeas more or less successful in different spheres of their lives. The study also stresses the need for further research, suggesting exploration in the field with supportive quantitative evidence and longitudinal study.

The purpose of the study was to examine the importance of language, leadership- and

organisational culture, and culture and values for the communication and understanding

between workplaces and immigrant interns. The qualitative study was based on semi-

structured interviews with a total of six respondents from two different companies. The

communication and understanding could be facilitated by a common understanding of a

language, and if the interns have adequate competences for their tasks. Leadership- and

organisational culture were smaller barriers for the understanding, provided that the

interns came from similar environments. The least important factors were culture and

values, in case of that both the workplaces and the interns were motivated to follow the

common organisational values. The organisational values could thus fill a pedagogic

purpose for improving the understanding. More common language skills, competences

and values seamed to facilitate the communication and understanding between the workplaces and the interns.

The EU migrants who are in Sweden, most often to support themselves by begging, are often seen by the general public as Roma. The majority of the people who come to Sweden to beg originally come from Romania, the result shows that not all do consider themselves to be Roma even though they have a lot in common with the Roma minority. The purpose of this study is to investigate, through qualitative interviews, female EU migrants view on their identity perceptions and to raise awareness of the diversity within the group called EU migrants. During the interviews it turned out that the respondents identified themselves as Romanians, at the same time they consider themselves to belong to the ethnic group Rudari. They were also aware of that the general public consider them to be Roma. With the help of the Social Identity Theory, the result has been analyzed to provide an understanding of how people, including the respondents themselves, categorizes into ingroup (us) and outgroup (them). The study shows that Roma are not a unified ethnic group or, as one of the respondents themselves said: ”The Roma are Roma and we are Rudari”. 

Organisationer i dagens samhälle kan genom motiverade medarbetare effektivisera sin verksamhet utan att öka kostnaderna. Studiens syfte var att undersöka huruvida det finns köns- ålders- och utbildningsnivårelaterade skillnader med utgångspunkt från Herzbergs tvåfaktorsteori. Vi utförde en kvantitativ enkätundersökning (n=93) på två organisationer med hjälp av bekvämlighetsurval. Reliabilitetstestet Cronbachs alfa utfördes på enkätverktyget och visade till viss del på låg reliabilitet. Vi använde oss av One Way ANOVA och Bonferroni Post Hoc test för att analysera resultatet, vilket visade att det finns signifikanta könsrelaterade och åldersrelaterade skillnader med utgångspunkt från Herzbergs tvåfaktorsteori, men ingen signifikant utbildningsrelaterad skillnad.

This is a study about fairly ordinary situations in elder care: how staff deal with older people’s influence, how staff talk about older people’s complaints, how family members talk about elder mistreatment, and how older people act in order to exert influence in a nursing home. However ordinary, these are situations where relational power is accentuated, accomplished and able to be empirically explored. The aim here is to analyze power and influence as social phenomena in elder care. More specifically, the aims are 1) to analyze the political and bureaucratic frame in which older people have formal “voice” options; 2) to analyze staff members’ “folk logic” as they respond to residents’ complaints in Swedish nursing homes; 3) to analyze how family members of care recipients define and sustain claims of elder mistreatment; and 4) to ethnographically depict how older people’s attempts at influence unfold in everyday interactions in a nursing home and how these attempts can be understood in the context of a “local routine culture.”

Several kinds of empirical material have been used: 100 structured telephone interviews with local municipal officials, 13 qualitative interviews with nursing home staff, 21 interviews with family members of care recipients, and ethnographic data comprised of field notes and field-based interviews from five months of observation in a nursing home.

The findings demonstrate the difficulties of turning policies about older people’s influence into practice. Yet, the main finding is not the “policy–practice gap” per se, but rather an understanding of how this gap is situationally shaped and maintained. The dissertation shows how the subtleties of actions and talk have powerful implications, and can constitute barriers to older people’s influence. Two examples are the “rhetoric of trivialization” and a “local routine culture”; both can easily and quite inconspicuously restrict older people’s autonomy and influence. A routine culture is a locally and situationally generated action repertoire and as such provides an understanding of how routines shape power relations in a nursing home. The findings also show how a rhetoric of trivialization can function as a power resource, through which older people’s and family members’ views are “made trivial” by the ways they are described and rhetorically treated by staff and local officials. Through the use of trivializing accounts, staff members legitimized their neglect of complaints and restrictions of older people’s influence. The study argues that by recognizing how older people’s influence is “made trivial,” we gain an understanding of how to accomplish just the opposite. Local routines and accountability practices have a strong inertia, but the findings indicate that if actors reframe influence and complaints, they may substantially affect power relations in elder care.

Objectives: To examine the long-term effects of midlife overweight for cognitive abilities. The evidence is growing strong that overweight in midlife is related to increased dementia risk. Few studies have addressed the question if overweight affects cognitive abilities among those who do not develop dementia. In two studies we examined cognitive performance in two cohorts of people (young-old and old) in relation to self-reported Body Mass Index (BMI) in midlife. Methods: The participants are from the Swedish Twin Registry who participated in longitudinal studies on aging and cognition, the SATSA study (young-old cohort, 50 years and older) and the OCTO-Twin study (old cohort, 80 years and older) . BMI was reported in 1963 and cognitive abilities were examined 20- to 30-years later with five measurement occasions at 3-year intervals (SATSA) respectively 2-year intervals (OCTO-Twin). The cognitive abilities examined included tests of long-term memory, short-term memory, speed, verbal ability, spatial ability and a composite score representing general cognitive ability. Results: Multilevel modeling adjusting for twinship, demographic factors, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, showed that higher BMI in midlife predicted lower test performance 30 years later. Significant associations were found in all cognitive abilities. Although we found a significant cognitive decline across the five measurement occassions in both cohorts at the follow-up assessments, a higher midlife BMI was not associated with steeper decline in the old cohort, with the exception of verbal ability. This was, however, found for a measure of general cognitive ability and spatial ability in the young-old cohort.Conclusions: Our results indicate that midlife overweight is related to lower overall cognitive function in old age. The fact that BMI-related effects in slopes were only noted in some abilities in the young-old cohort suggests that the negative effect of overweight has an early onset.

Objective:

This study examines whether overweight in midlife increases dementia risk later in life.

Methods:

In 1963 body mass index was assessed in 1152 participants of The Swedish Twin Registry, at the age of 45–65 years. These participants were later screened for dementia in a prospective study with up to 40 years follow-up. A total of 312 participants were diagnosed with dementia.

Results:

Logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographic factors, smoking and alcohol habits, indicated that men and women categorized as overweight in their midlife had an elevated risk of dementia (OR=1.59; 95% CI: 1.21–2.07, P=0.002), Alzheimer's disease (OR=1.71; 95% CI: 1.24–2.35, P=0.003), and vascular dementia (OR=1.55; 95% CI: 0.98–2.47, P=0.059). Further adjustments for diabetes and vascular diseases did not substantially affect the associations, except for vascular dementia (OR=1.36; 95% CI: 0.82–2.56, P=0.116), reflecting the significance of diabetes and vascular diseases in the etiology of vascular dementia. There was no significant interaction between overweight and APOE ɛ4 status, indicating that having both risk factors does not have a multiplicative effect with regard to dementia risk.

Conclusions:

This study gives further support to the notion that overweight in midlife increases later risk of dementia. The risk is increased for both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, and follows the same pattern for men and women.

Aim: To examine if the body mass index (BMI) in midlife is related to cognitive function 30 years later in a dementia-free sample. Methods: BMI was reported in 1963 at age 50–60 years, and cognitive abilities were examined 30 years later in a longitudinal design with 5 measurement occasions at 2-year intervals (n = 417). The cognitive abilities examined included tests of long-term memory, short-term memory, speed, verbal and spatial ability. Results: Multilevel modeling adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, and relevant diseases showed that a higher BMI in midlife predicted lower test performance 30 years later. Significant associations between BMI and level of performance were found in all cognitive abilities; however, a higher midlife BMI was not associated with steeper cognitive decline. Conclusion: Our results indicate that midlife overweight is related to lower overall cognitive function in old age. The fact that BMI-related effects were noted in mean-level cognitive performance, whereas only one ability showed differences in slopes, suggests that the negative effect of overweight has an onset before the entry into very old age.

BACKGROUND: The transition from high school to post-secondary education and work is difficult for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Transition planning can be an effective way of supporting adolescents on the autism spectrum to prepare for leaving school and to succeed in obtaining employment; however, there is a need for an autism-specific transition planning program with proven effectiveness. This paper describes a trial protocol for evaluating the Better OutcOmes & Successful Transitions for Autism (BOOST-A™); an online interactive program that empowers adolescents on the autism spectrum to plan their transition from school to further study, training, or employment.

METHODS: The trial will involve adolescents on the autism spectrum in high school and their parents, who will be alternately assigned to a control group (regular practice) or an intervention group (using the BOOST-A™). The BOOST-A™ was developed using the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, and is based on the self-determination model, and the strengths- and technology-based approaches. It involves participants completing a series of online modules. The primary outcome will be self-determination, because high self-determination has been linked to successful transition to employment among adolescents on the autism spectrum. Secondary outcomes will include domain-specific self-determination, career planning and exploration, quality of life, and environmental support. Data will be obtained from questionnaires completed by the adolescent on the autism spectrum and their parent/s. Data collection will take place at baseline (Time point 1) and 12 months later (Time point 2).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: This trial will provide evidence of the effectiveness of the BOOST-A™ to assist adolescents on the autism spectrum to successfully transition from school. 

Adolescents on the autism spectrum experience difficulty transitioning from secondary school to post-school activities, often due to transition planning processes that do not meet their unique needs. This study identified parents' and professionals' viewpoints on transition planning for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Interviews were completed with nine parents of adolescents on the autism spectrum and four professionals who worked with adolescents on the autism spectrum. A constant comparison approach was used to analyse the transcripts. Four themes were identified, reflecting parents' and professionals' viewpoints on how to meet the transition planning needs of adolescents on the autism spectrum. Supporting adolescents to grasp the big picture can enhance motivation to participate in transition planning. Autism can be an ‘invisible disability’; therefore, encouraging adolescents to be active participants and to be seen in transition planning ensures their individual needs are met. Encouraging adolescents to have high aspirationsin transition planning develops their self-determination. Finally, to be prepared for the transition from school may reduce the adolescent's' anxiety. Adolescents on the autism spectrum face unique challenges in transition planning. The themes identified in this study provide insight into how parents and professionals might support adolescents with these challenges.

This article explores the effects of activities in Men’s Sheds on elderly women. Specifically, it investigates the opportunities that are made available for women when their husband/partner becomes active in the Men’s Shed movement; focussing on ‘empowerment’, ‘gender identity’ and ‘well-being’. Five focus group interviews and eight individual interviews with elderly women were conducted and subsequently analysed through a content analysis, guided by the concepts of ‘empowerment’, ‘gender-as-performative’ and ‘well-being’. The result indicates that the notions of ‘self-fulfilment’ and ‘self-sacrifice’ are central to understanding how men’s participation in Men’s Sheds has affected elderly women’s empowerment, gender identities, and well-being. When men visit Sheds, it empowers women and offers them a sense of freedom and independence due to the women feeling less concern for their partners and a concomitantly eased bad conscience for leaving the men home alone with nothing to do when the women leave the household to pursue their own activities. Simultaneously, ‘Shedding’ provides new avenues for women to reproduce traditional feminine gender roles where they are primarily responsible for the socio-emotional work within their marriage. This was demonstrated by the women’s extensive engagement by which they, practically and emotionally, prioritised their husbands/partners and their new Shedding experiences.

Summary

The purpose of this paper is to look into how preschool teachers treat children regarding to their sex. Using observations we want to study if preschool teachers are addressing the children with different sex equally or not.

On the basis of the study we have the following question of issue:

- Do preschool teachers use different vocabulary, vocal pitch, and body language to boys respectively girls?

- Do the children receive equally amount of help based on their sex?

- Do preschool teachers differentiate in the way they address and act towards children with different sex?

The study is based on our observation of eight preschool teachers in two different preschools with children in the age range of 1-5 years old. A structural observation scheme has been used under two different situations at the preschools. The first structural observation was conducted in a teacher lead situation, getting the children dressed for outdoor activity. The second structural observation was made during recess where the children chose the game of play; the teachers did not plan the activity.

The result shows that the boys receive more vocal encouragement then the girls in the dressing situation. The girls are supposed to be more self going and are often left to first try on their own. The girls in our study did not get any positive encouragement from the preschool teachers during the dressing setting. During recess the results show that the boys received more vocal communication with the preschool teacher than the girls did. The preschool teachers often used a hard and loud voice to address the boys and on the other side a low and soft voice when addressing the girls.

This study analyzes landmine victim data in the Kurdistan Region during the period 1960 to 2005. A regression analysis is used to identify the determinants and impact of the probability of getting killed by mines and unexploded ordnances. The rates of killed/injured victims are explained using a set of socioeconomic variables. As the data are a repeated cross-section in which the individuals are observed when they are subjected to landmine incidents, and to account for the dynamic aspect of the process and heterogeneity by location as well as to control for unobserved location and time effects, a pseudo panel data are created where districts are observed over the entire time period forming a panel data. The results show that (a) males, children, and the elderly are more susceptible to a higher level of landmine risks; (b) landmine training and awareness programs do not reduce the rate of landmine mortality; and (c) the rate of incidents are declining over time. This result can be used in the planning, monitoring, and resource allocation for mine action, as well as labor market programs and rehabilitation activities.

The well-being of families and their children is given high priority in development goals. Children’s well-being in Africa is important since the growing number of children is the greatest resource of this continent. Rwanda was one of the first countries that ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The country, despite its very low GDP per capita, also has one of the best child well-being indicators in Africa. In the recent past the country has also had two important achievements: protection of children by establishing the National Commission for Children and launching a Strategy for National Child Care Reform. The measures aim to protect children’s rights and integrate children into families that are supported to provide needed care to them. These achievements are largely the result of strong laws and policies many of which have been developed with support from UNICEF. Investments in children’s well-being will help in addressing many persistent difficulties that society may have to face in the future. What happens during the early years is of crucial importance for every child’s development. This period offers great opportunities, but children are also vulnerable to negative influences. The objective of this research is to estimate multidimensional well-being of children and their families in Rwanda. The aim is to compute an overall well-being index decomposed into its underlying main components. The households are ranked by the level of well-being and by various household and community characteristics. The results shed light on the state and changes in the well-being of children and their families in Rwanda indicating which provinces and districts offer relatively better conditions for them. This can serve as a model for public policies aimed at improving general well-being in the country. 

PURPOSE: This review sought to answer the question "What are the barriers and facilitators influencing people's experience of return to work following spinal cord injury?"

METHODS: Studies that met the selection criteria were identified, presented and critically appraised using National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. Thematic synthesis was completed with studies possessing strong methodological rigor. Synthesis and interpretation involved three stages; coding of primary data; development of descriptive themes reflective of the primary data; and establishment of analytical themes to answer the review question.

RESULTS: Data from nine papers were included in the thematic synthesis. Several descriptive themes and three analytical themes were drawn from the data to answer the research question. Analytical themes included: a matrix of personal and environmental factors exists requiring complex navigation in order to create possibilities and opportunities for postinjury employment; the process of seeking or gaining employment shares a reciprocal relationship with the temporal nature of adjustment to spinal cord injury; and there is an intrinsic need for occupational engagement through paid employment.

CONCLUSIONS: Returning to or gaining employment after spinal cord injury is a fundamentally difficult experience for people. Multiple strategies are required to support the navigation of the process. There is, however, a need in people with spinal cord injury, to be a worker, and with that comes the inherent benefits of being employed. Implications for rehabilitation Returning to work should be a significant focus of spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Employment is both possible and health promoting following spinal cord injury. Multiple strategies are required to support people to navigate the return to work process. It is important to be cognizant of the individual motivations for being a worker and the complexity of the adjustment process. Spinal cord injury centers can provide a consistent and supportive framework and culture of positivity about employment after spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: Vocational potential in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) are unrealised with rates of employment substantially lower than in the labour force participation of the general population and the pre-injury employment rates.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the experience and pathway of people achieving employment outcome after traumatic spinal cord injury by; classifying participants into employment outcome groups of stable, unstable and without employment; identifying pre and post-injury pathways for participants in each group and, exploring the experiences of people of seeking, gaining and maintaining employment.

METHODS: Thirty-one participants were interviewed. Mixed methods approach including interpretive phenomenological analysis and vocational pathway mapping of quantitative data.

RESULTS: The most common pathway identified was from study and work pre-injury to stable employment post-injury. Four super-ordinate themes were identified from the interpretive phenomenological analysis; expectations of work, system impacts, worker identity and social supports. Implications for clinical practice include fostering cultural change, strategies for system navigation, promotion of worker identity and optimal use of social supports.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings increase insight and understanding of the complex experience of employment after spinal cord injury. There is opportunity to guide experimental research, policy development and education concerning the complexity of the return to work experience and factors that influence pathways.

Background: Women in senior positions have been, for a long time, discredited. We wanted to study their current situation and understand how they assert themselves in their companies. We thought it would be interesting to see their link to management and leadership.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the position of female managers in organizations through the exploration of gender roles, characteristics and stereotypes.

Method: We conducted our research by reviewing literature about leadership theories, management versus leadership and gender influences over leadership. Then, we conducted a qualitative study with a comparison analysis between the banking, consulting and agri-food industries in France to update the current knowledge regarding female managers, to understand how they assert themselves.

Conclusion: The results suggest that it is still hard for women to assert themselves and reach manager or leader positions. However, this is mostly due to their own perceptions of themselves. Women tend to lack self-confidence, which is unfortunate because female managers generally use a transformational leadership style which is considered as one of the best, which means they have all the keys to become both successful managers and leaders, using androgynous characteristics. They also endure the maternity leave and tend to sacrifice their professional career for the benefit of their family life. Women simply need to be more confident and keep asserting themselves. 

Ridge estimators are usually examined through Monte Carlo simulations since their properties are difficult to obtain analytically. In this paper we argue that a simulation design commonly used in the literature will give biased results of Monte Carlo simulations in favour of ridge regression over ordinary least square (OLS) estimators. Specifically, it is argued that the properties of ridge estimators that are functions of p distinct regressor eigenvalues should not be evaluated through Monte Carlo designs using only two distinct eigenvalues.

According to the convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to freely express his or her opinion. The society has a responsibility to include young people’s participation, hence listen to their opinions and ideas. Nevertheless, it is difficult to implement young people’s participation in practice as children are sometimes viewed as objects in need of protection and viewed by others as independent actors. Adults behavior affects the opportunities to participate and is therefore important to acknowledge. This essay is grounded in previous studies which have observed a need for further research on young people’s own perspective on participation. Consequently, the purpose was to examine youth’s perspective on partic-ipation in matters that concern them, just like article 12 claims. Four research questions have been answered. The first one concerns the youths point of views of participation, the second one their interest in matters revolving around youths in society and the third one concerns what prerequisites the youth’s need to be able and willing to participate. The fourth research question was to what extent young people want to influence issues that concern them. It was answered based on the results of the first and the third questions and is presented in the analysis. The questions have been studied within the case of Jönköping. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with eight participants. With a phenomenographic method the collected data was analyzed. In addition, the data was linked to levels of children’s participation though Hart’s Ladder of Participation which gave the results an order of precedence along with analytical depth and developed a theory. In summary, the findings conclude: the adolescents had experienced that adults often show a degrading attitude towards youth; there is a great interest in questions involving their schools; partic-ipation is important to youth and is every individual’s right; and finally, societal participation needs to be further developed to become known and accessible for youth. It was further categorized into three different ideal types: the indifferent, the reformers and the revolutionary. The analytical constructions should not be viewed as complete and representative for all youths. Rather the result of this study should facilitate an understanding of the many dynamics of adolescents’ participation in society. 

Road safety strategies (generally called Strategic Highway Safety Plans in the USA) provide essential guidance for actions to improve road safety, but often lack a conceptual framework that is comprehensive, systems theory based, and underpinned by evidence from research and practice. This paper aims to incorporate all components, policy tools by which they are changed, and the general interactions between them. A framework of nine mutually interacting components that contribute to crashes and ten generic policy tools which can be applied to reduce the outcomes of these crashes was developed and used to assess 58 road safety strategies from 22 countries across 15 years. The work identifies the policy tools that are most and least widely applied to components, highlighting the potential for improvements to any individual road safety strategy, and the potential strengths and weaknesses of road safety strategies in general. The framework also provides guidance for the development of new road safety strategies, identifying potential consequences of policy tool based measures with regard to exposure and risk, useful for both mobility and safety objectives.

Kapitlet ger en sammanfattning av vilka svårigheter vårdpersonal inom svensk akut hälso- och sjukvård stöter på i vården av personer med utländsk bakgrund.

This study aims to examine and explore the social, economic and ecological effects of hosting sports events. It will focus on the FIFA world cup 2014 and its effects on its host nation, Brazil. The study will explore the underlying factors behind the sports-event and whether the world cup has contributed or hindered the development of Brazils sustainable development. It seeks to understand the environmental impact of reconstructing infrastructure and implementation of arenas. The FIFA world cup is the highest viewed sports spectacle that connects football fans all over the world. It is strongly linked with joy, pride and entertainment that also holds cultural significance. In contrast, the preparation for hosting the world cup includes reconstructions of the city’s infrastructure. These redevelopment projects consisted of forced evictions, disposing of people, ostracization and further marginalization of people, cheap labor, demolishing buildings of historical and cultural value. Violations of human rights took place in order to host the event. It also diverted state funds from the education and health sector which were invested in building grandiose arenas. The result highlights the advantages and disadvantages of hosting the world cup. It will discover its effects on the country’s economy, whether it profits from hosting such an event.

Allt fler har börjat kritisera det vardagsliv som vi i utvecklade länder lever, där hög konsumtion, flygresor och annan markant klimatpåverkan blivit vardag (Claesson, 2018). 2018 var året som Sverige upplevde värmerekord med följder som både torka och bränder. Sommarens extrema väder har bidragit till att klimatet fått mer fokus i samhällsdebatten, och både privatpersoners och företags påverkan på klimatet har blivit föremål för diskussion (Frid, 2018). Diskussionen har även blivit aktuell inom besöksnäringen. Turistsektorn lyfter fram dess påverkan på miljön och det är en av de största utmaningar som beslutsfattare inom besöksnäringen står inför idag, både regionalt, nationellt och internationellt (Tillväxtverket, 2019). Syftet med studien har således varit att undersöka hur svensk besöksnäring på landsbygden arbetar med en hållbar utveckling ställt i relation till Agenda 2030. Hur arbetar den svenska besöksnäringen idag med hållbarhet och hur verkar den i en av vår tids mest komplexa omställningar? För att besvara detta genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex personer som är verksamma i sex olika populära turistdestinationer på den svenska landsbygden. Dessa turistdestinationer ligger till grund för studiens empiriska material. Resultatet visade att det är ett begränsat antal anläggningar som aktivt arbetar med hållbar utveckling inkorporerat i verksamheten, även om allt fler har börjat arbeta mer aktivt med hållbarhet. Studien bidrar till en djupare förståelse kring den svenska besöksnäringens arbete med hållbarhetsfrågor, samt hur det skiljer sig utifrån verksamheternas geografiska läge. Studien bidrar också med ett kunskapsunderlag för hur den svenska besöksnäringen kan utvecklas för en mer hållbar framtid. 

Studiebesöken visade tjänster och funktioner från två olika perspektiv; det nationellt övergripande och arbetet i den lokala verksamheten.

De nationellt övergripande tjänsterna och funktionerna visades genom tre besök på institutioner med nationellt ansvar: National Institue of Informatics (NII), National Diet Library (nationalbiblioteket, NDL) och National Instititute of Multimedia Education (NIME). Det finns ett stort värde i att nationellt kraftsamla resurser och kompetenser. Besöken visar att institutioner som får ett uttalat nationellt ansvar inom sitt ansvarsområde ges möjligheter att utveckla tjänster och funktioner som inget enskilt bibliotek har möjlighet att åstadkomma.

Några exempel är:

NII arbetar med forskning och utveckling på nationell nivå inom den vetenskapliga informationsförsörjningen både vad det gäller service och tjänster och kommunikationsinfrastruktur.

NDL har fått ett nationellt uppdrag att lösa problemet med digitalt bevarande. Uppdraget tas på mycket stort allvar och ett omfattande arbete med kartläggning och planering av hur frågan skall hanteras är under arbete.

NIME har det nationella ansvaret att upprätthålla en hög kompetens och har omfattande resurser för utbildning och forskning inom medieområdet.

Besöken i de lokala biblioteken har visat på flera prioriterade områden och ett par exempel är:

Digitalisering av olika delar av samlingarna ses som angeläget och arbetet har också kommit långt på flera håll, framför allt när det gäller att öka tillgängligheten av äldre kulturskatter. Efterfrågan och användning av det digitaliserade materialet är mycket stor, inte minst från användare från andra länder.

När det gäller frågor av organisatorisk karaktär har besöken genomgående visat på en förhållandevis hög grad av outsourcing av vissa tjänster. Detta ses som ett sätt att dels kunna hålla och utveckla en högre kompetens på de som faktiskt är anställda och dels ett sätt att kunna vara mer flexibel med möjlighet att konkurrensutsätta olika funktioner.