Euroscepticism Revisited - Regional Interest Representation in Brussels and the Link to Citizen Attitudes towards European Integration

Recent scholarship has suggested that nation-states will gradually fade away in favor of regions and super-regions as the main actors within a European Union characterized by strong regional identities. At the same time, recent developments have shown that citizen support for European integration is essential for any future development of the Union. The puzzle inspiring this paper is the finding that the greatest support for the EU increasingly stems from minority nationalist, or strong identity regions seeking to bypass their central states to achieve their policy goals at the EU level. This paper empirically tests this suggestion, while shedding light on the relationship between the quality of representation of regional interests at the EU level and positive citizen attitudes towards the EU. In particular, it finds two explanations for cross-regional variation in the relationship between Euroscepticism and representation: (1) a cultural explanation, embodied by differences in the nature and quality of representation between regions that are linguistically distinctive and regions that are not; and (2) an institutional explanation, embodied by differences in the nature and quality of representation between regions from federal and non-federal member states. The paper uses an eclectic methodological approach, first utilizing multivariate regression analysis, estimating logistic and ordinal logit models that help explain variation in Euroscepticism at the regional level. The results are then complemented by the findings of indepth elite interviews of regional representatives—more specifically the directors of a selection of the many regional information offices present in Brussels. This paper takes the study of Euroscepticism to a new level, as most previous scholarly work has focused on explanations at the individual or at the member state level. At the same time it strengthens the notion of a growing importance of a “Europe of the regions.

Swedish Stories of the Neighbour Across the Baltic Sea: A Narrative Media Analysis of Swedish Reporting on Lithuania

This thesis identifies ten main narratives related to Lithuania in the reporting of five major Swedish newspapers between 2010-2012, and investigates how these narratives have been discursively constructed and why they might have been chosen to serve as a frame of reference for Swedish readers. Through narrative analysis and a theoretical framework including the concepts of ‘narrative’, ‘collective identity’, ‘national stereotypes’ and ‘othering’, main narratives are identified and analysed. The identified narratives can be summarized into master narratives related to Lithuania’s position on the mental map of Europe as perceived by Swedish media. The study shows that the identified narratives often present Lithuania as a “surprisingly favourable country” and negative stereotypes are confronted (both to be dismissed and confirmed). Common bonds between Sweden and Lithuania are stressed. Lithuania’s EU- and Baltic identity is mostly emphasised, but when Lithuania is depicted as failing to distance itself from what is perceived as values connected to Europe’s temporal ‘other’, its past, Lithuania’s identity as an Eastern European ‘demi-other’ is discursively constructed. Elements conveying closeness to Sweden is however also then present. Media narratives are shaped according to what Swedish readers might find viable and important. Narratives on Lithuania thus in some sense mirror (and reproduce) Swedish culture and fulfils the role of challenging or confirming values and norms connected to the Swedish national self-image

Defining a reference building according to LEED v4, to enable comparison of LCA alternatives

In this thesis the possibility of defining a general reference building, or so-called Baseline Building representing Swedish multi-family dwellings is investigated. The scope of the research is limited to analyze the multi-family dwellings of 3-8 stories. If succeeded the results should represent a general Baseline Building according to the new LEED v4 credit, Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction. The credit requires a whole building life-cycle assessment to be carried out in order to evaluate environmental effects cause by the building design. However difficulties occur when developing a Baseline Building since no reference point is known. This leads to uncertainties when trying to improve the building design, since the reference point contains major variations. A suggested Baseline Building was derived by analyzing five questions from surveys conducted on the Swedish building stock, during 2000-2009. These questions considered the building shape, structural components, and manufacturing method of the structural component, façade material and roofing material. Through the statistical analysis it was concluded that the most common building shape consisted of two building shapes, Apartment Block and Building Block. The choice of structural element consisted of partly prefabricated concrete elements for both building shapes. Furthermore plaster was found to be the most common façade material and metal sheet the most common roofing material. Despite this, no general Baseline Building that covered all building elements was obtained through the statistical review, due to high variations in greenhouse gas emissions caused by different construction types. The results should instead be used as material suggestions for the building envelope and structural elements of a Baseline Building. The results from the investigation are intended to guide project teams in selecting appropriate materials in an early design stage regarding the Baseline Building design. As the final step sensitivity analysis were conducted by defining different construction and material types of a Baseline Building design and analyzed in a simplified LCA tool. From the LCA study we could conclude that the structural elements affected the LCA results the most. In conclusion the structural elements should be analyzed in early design phase through a “what if” scenarios to improve the LCA outcome

Hur kan man få fler att använda infartsparkerinar?

Problems associated with traffic, such as traffic congestion and pollution, have occurred in major urban areas in particular due to the increased use of cars. One possible way to reduce the use of cars is to replace commuter trips by car with other modes of transport, such as a combination of car and public transport called Park & Ride. The aim of this thesis was to understand more about factors influencing the choice of mode and to find measures that could attract car drivers to Park & Ride. A stated preference survey has been conducted in order to quantify some standard factors. The factors used in this stated choice experiment were: security at the lot, availability of spaces at the parking lot, costs at the parking lot and walking distances between the parking space and the station. The results indicate that security at the Park & Ride facility is important. Both sexes assign a high value to secure parking, but women are more willing to pay for lights at an unguarded parking lot. The results reveal that park-ing facilities, such as free parking and short distance between parking place and work at work, influence people’s choice of mode. A general conclusion is that there is potential for increasing the use of Park & Ride facilities, especially among women and respon-dents over 30 years

Social support as a moderator in the relationship between intrusive thoughts and anxiety among Spanish-speaking Latinas with breast cancer.

ObjectiveIntrusive thoughts, defined as unwanted and recurrent thoughts about a stressful experience, are associated with psychological distress in women with breast cancer. This study assessed moderating effects of various social support dimensions on associations between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among Latina breast cancer survivors.MethodsWe used baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of a stress management intervention delivered to 151 Spanish-speaking Latinas with nonmetastatic breast cancer within 1 year of diagnosis. Intrusive thoughts, four dimensions of social support (emotional/informational, tangible, affectionate, and positive social interaction), and symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed through in-person interviews. Information on age, time since diagnosis, breast cancer variables, history of depression, and marital status served as covariates. Generalized linear models were used to investigate bivariate and multivariate associations and to explore moderation effects of the four dimensions of social support.ResultsIn bivariate models, intrusive thoughts were associated positively with depression (β = .024, .001) and anxiety (β = .047, P < .001) symptoms. Adjusting for other factors, intrusive thoughts remained associated with depression symptoms (β = .022, .008), regardless of level of social support (for all support dimensions). For anxiety, there were significant interactions of tangible (β = -.013, .034) and affectionate (β = -.022, .005) support with intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts were associated more strongly with anxiety symptoms among women reporting less tangible and affectionate support than those with higher levels of these types of support.ConclusionsTangible and affectionate support have protective effects on anxiety symptoms among Spanish-speaking Latina breast cancer survivors experiencing intrusive thoughts, but not depression symptoms

Environmental Performance in Customer Communications

Corporate environmental efforts are now valued higher than ever and need to be communicated to customers in a successful manner. Companies today wish to promote themselves as sustainable and use environmental performance to obtain competitive advantages. SKF is promoting themselves as an environmentally sustainable supplier and wishes to ascertain how environmental performance can be communicated to strengthen and support its products. This project is limited to evaluate environmental performance by its usability in communication towards customers and not for their effectiveness as environmental efforts as such. The analysis and recommendations are geographically limited to the Swedish market and are primarily applicable to this market. How can environmental performance be used to promote industrial components in B2B customer communications? The project uses mainly qualitative data and some quantitative. The qualitative data consists of literature review, benchmark, and interviews with key SKF personnel and customers. The quantitative data extracted from of an externally produced customer survey. Conclusions show the importance of building a comprehensive brand image by incorporating product specific environmental performance (PSEP™) and environmental efforts which enhance the sustainable supplier brand image (SSBI™) in the environmental communication. Sustainable supplier brand image can be enhanced by including the following three things in the environmental communications: (1) SKF’s commitment to continuously improving environmental performance: focus on implemented processes and should use the Beyond Zero concept and portfolio to exemplify the efforts. (2) Certifications: focus on communicating ISO 50001. (3) Third-party verification and partnership: focus on SKF WWF Climate Savers membership. While product specific environmental performance can enhance sustainable supplier brand image a reputation as a sustainable supplier is a necessity to successfully communicate the benefits of product specific environmental performance. Communication of product specific environmental performance should always clearly communicate the correlation between PSEP™ and financial savings. To achieve this, it is important to have knowledge of customers’ KPI’s and communicate PSEP™ that is connected to those. It is also important to communicate measurements customers can relate to. Recommendations for communicating PSEP™ beyond this can be divided into two parts: (1) Recommendation for environmentally aware customers: Communicate LCA on a more complex and comprehensive level by including all parameters measured in a LCA, not limiting communication of LCA results to Beyond Zero products, and using visual tools in communication of LCA. (2) Recommendation for environmental unaware customers: Communicate effective and easily comprehendible information in every customer contact by providing SKF bearing packaging with a table of fundamental environmental parameters

Library-faculty collaboration in the light of a business administration bachelor’s program: ‘The Scientific Wave’

In contemporary digital society, information literacy is increasingly important and viewed as a necessary life skill for all ages, social groups, and professional sectors, hence also affecting higher education. Universities need to develop strategies and approaches to integrate these skills into course syllabi, assignments and assessments based on close library-faculty collaboration. However, librarians and faculty members in higher education traditionally often have separate agendas and limited collaboration. This paper illustrates the background and process of constructing a successful librarian-faculty partnership, as a shared framework entitled the ‘Scientific Wave’ throughout a bachelor’s program in business administration to enhance students’ critical thinking, research skills and information literacy in particular. A case study approach was applied, and data collection was conducted during 2014–2019. The outcomes of a shared framework and library-faculty collaboration are discussed from the perspectives of students, library, and faculty. Findings show that a shared framework based on close collaboration between librarians and faculty, strategic anchoring and visualization in curricula, syllabi, course objectives and assessments developed in line with the mission of the university have an impact on students’ information literacy skills during their education and after graduation. The Scientific Wave is a co-designed continuous framework based on the separate but complementary skills of librarians and faculty to provide students with tools for critical and creative thinking, research skills and lifelong learning in today’s digital society