The purpose of this study has been to examine whether the bottom fauna of the stream Stensjöån, has been negatively influenced since the harvesting of peat began on the nearby peat moss Skäftesmyr or not. Comparison has been made with the results of index calculations from earlier examinations in the stream, two calculated indexes has been made, Danish fauna index and ASPT-index. The sampling was made with the kick sampling method, SS-EN 27 828. Three locations were chosen for the examination, one upstream from the peat moss, one just downstream from where the brook from the peat moss joins Stensjöån and a third location near the outlet of the stream to the lake Stensjön. The samples were sorted and the found animals identified to the taxonomic level required for the calculation of the two indexes.

The aim of this work is to analyze if a change in the benthic community can be detected two years after a restoration of a small stream. The samples were taken in a small stream at Tinnerö Eklandskap just south of Linköping. In addition to the restored area, two reference sites upstream and downstream of the restored area were sampled to compare to the restored site. The method used for sampling of benthic fauna in the stream was kick sampling. ASPT, Berger-Parker and Renkonen-indices were used to find out if there was any difference between the reference areas and the restored area.

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate stock index bonds return to risk ratio in order to investigate to which degree an investor in a stock index bond take part of the underlying index return and what the investor must pay for the security of not losing his funds. In order to carry out this evaluation an average return per year and the Sharpe ratio will be calculated and a mean- standard deviation analysis will be made. All investigated stock index bonds are based on a Swedish underlying asset.The results show that the stock index bonds haven?t generated a higher risk adjusted return than its underlying asset. The stock index bonds took part of 57 % of the underlying assets return, and the loss of 10 percentage points per year for the stock index bonds compared to its underlying asset can be seen as the cost for the guarantee a stock index bond gives..

Denna uppsats syfte är att förklara den svenska elmarknadens konkurrenssituation med Lerner index och Herfindahl index. Genom att estimera priselasticiteten med en ekonometrisk modell som logaritmerats kunde dess värde skattas fram. Vidare har denna elasticitet använts för att skatta fram Lerner index. Avslutningsvis har ett Herfindahl index beräknats för att mäta marknadens koncentration. Resultatet från empirin visar existens av marknadsstyrka på elmarknaden och att den är oligopolistisk..

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka ett oviktat index relevans som jämförelsemått för aktivt förvaltade fonders avkastning och förvaltares förmåga att hitta vinnaraktier. Arbetet använder sig av en kvantitativ metod för framtagning av ett oviktat index (SUWX 100) som inkluderar de 100 största företagen på Stockholmsbörsen. Analysen av kvantitativa data är av induktiv karaktär, och använder sig av de Sverigefonder som finns i PPM-systemet för att dra slutsatser kring det oviktade indexet som jämförelsemått. Vår slutsats är att det finns aspekter av ett oviktat index som gör det användbart som jämförelsemått för Sverigefonder..

Finansiella index är viktade genomsnitt av olika tillgångars avkastning från en bestämd tidpunkt. Traditionella index är börsvärdeviktade. Problemet med denna typ av index är att börsvärdet tidvis kraftigt kan överdrivas på grund av spekulation. Alternativa index bygger på företags fundamentalvärden. De viktas därmed efter företags faktiska redovisade siffror i balans- och resultaträkningar.

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

Detta examensarbete skrivs på uppdrag av länsstyrelsen i Västmanland, som vill ha en ekologisk statusbedömning av Stäholmsbäcken. En ekologisk statusbedömning enligt EU:s vattendirektiv utförs i tre delar, biologiska, kemiska och hydromorfologiska kvalitetsfaktorer. Den biologiska delen bestod i att på en provplats ta fem prover på bottenfaunan med hjälp av handhåvsmetoden. Djuren artbestämdes och därefter gjordes indexberäkningarna ASPT, DJ-index och MISA. De biologiska kvalitetsfaktorerna fick ett otillfredsställande resultat.

Companies have in the past decades changed fromtraditional manufacturing organizations into serviceorganizations. For these service organizationsinformation and competence have become animportant resource. The traditional view oninformation is that an employee use and search forinformation to reduce uncertainty for their decisionmaking. Even though information is strategicallyimportant for organizations, information is not valuedin any way. Hence, this thesis aims to valueinformation in terms of the utility it brings to theorganization.The conclusion is that four factors are important whenvaluing information in terms of utility.

The main purpose of the essay was to evaluate whether investments in index-linked bonds were suitable investments for smaller investors on the international finance market. To determine whether the index-linked bonds are good investments, the variables yield, cost and risk were used to measure the index-linked bonds against investments in stocks and funds. The reason for the interest in this subject is that investments in index-linked bonds have grown furiously the last few years. With the growth of the investments the criticism of index-linked bonds has also grown stronger. The critics? main point is the cost of the product, and they imply that investors can create their own index-linked bond and thereby avoid the bank fees.This study used a quantitative approach, because all the data of yield, cost and risk consist of numbers.

I denna undersökning konstrueras fundamentala aktieindex med aktier innefattade av indexetStockholm OMX30 under perioden 1999-04-01 till och med 2009-03-31. Dels konstruerasenskilda index där indexeringen sker efter faktorerna bokvärde, utdelning, försäljning, resultat,kassaflöde och antal anställda, dels ett index där faktorerna sammanvägs. Detta för att undersökahuruvida fundamentala index bättre speglar företags fundamentala värde och därmed genererarhögre riskjusterad avkastning i förhållande till ett marknadsvägt referensindex. De enskildaindexen bokvärde, utdelning, försäljning, antal anställda samt det sammanvägda indexet visarhögre riskjusterad avkastning än referensindexet. Kassaflödes- och resultatindexet presterardäremot markant sämre än referensindexet.

In this thesis, a computer program that in a simple way can calculate the performance of control loops at the refinery Preemraff Lysekil has been created. The computer program has been adapted to the environment at Preemraff Lysekil. Theories for evaluation has been studied in aspect of reliability and of automatic implementation. The evaluation has been carried out from data collected directly from control loops at the refinery and from simulated control loops with implemented errors. Among the studied methods are Harris index and Stattin´s oscillation index.

Det finns få studier där kombinationer av nyckeltal används för att indentifiera undervärderade bolag. Denna undersökning kombinerar P/E-tal, P/B-tal samt direktavkastning för att ta reda på hur värdeinvesteringar har gett för avkastning mellan 1980 till 2010. Risken tas även hänsyn till.Denna studie testade hypoteserna statisktikt, vilket inte gjorts tidigare i stor utrstäckning. Resultaten blev att värdeinvesteringar har överavkastat index i Norden under tidsperioden, men det blev inte statistiskt signifikant. Värdeinvesteringar avkastade i genomsnitt 55,72 % mot index som avkastade 18,87 % i genomsnitt.Vi undrar om det är värt att ta hänsyn till risken vid värdeinvesteringar över så lång tidsperiod.

The long-term external financing of a corporation is satisfied through the bond market where issues of index-linked bonds, which are discussed in this thesis, is one alternative. (Finnerty&Emery 2001) An index- linked bond is a debt instrument where the investor is guaranteed the principal and premium amount in real terms. As the bonds cash flows are indexed to the inflation this implies that the issuer of an index-linked bond assumes an inflation risk. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and examine corporate motives for choosing index-linked bonds as way of financing their business. Realization: Primary data was collected through interviews with corporate issuers of non-swapped index-linked bonds.