This paper replicates a test performed by Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), which identifies a kink in the frequency distribution of earnings for companies listed on American stock exchanges. Their claim, that the kink is evidence of earnings management, has however been dismissed as a methodical consequence. To address this concern, this paper not only replicates the test in general, but also performs tests on a split sample, where founding family-owned companies are separated from the others, since earlier research has shown that founding family ownership is correlated with less earnings management. The results are in line with the findings of Burgstahler and Dichev, with a significant kink in the frequency distribution in the general test. The findings also show that the significance of the kink increases in the non-family-owned sample, while it disappears in the family-owned sample.

??He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.? ? Dr. Johnson? . Så inleder den amerikanske journalisten Hunter S Thompson sin mycket speciella roman Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ? a Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1972).

After 9/11 and the following War on Terror, Muslims are often understood as global enemies. However, the idea of an international, Islamic enemy is in some circumstances criticized, not least after the actions of Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011.This study analyses the North American, Emmy Award-winning television series Homeland. It centres on the War on Terror and the following social and political climate, and there are opposing understandings regarding how religion and ethnicity are portrayed in the series. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse how such aspects are constructed in the series. A text analysis is used methodologically and the theoretical perspective contents of Semiotics, Eurocentrism and Orientalism in general, and Islamophobic themes in particular.This study shows that in Homeland, the portrayal of heroes and enemies plus good and evil is complex.

Since 2007 the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory has spread throughout the world. With its twenty million watchers it is one of the most popular sitcoms of our time. The starting point for this essay is that the humourus series with the more or less geeky main characters is more than just entertainment - it is a part of the mediatization of religion. This means that media is affecting the recipients? view on religion in general and the personal religion.

This essay is called In the head of Garibaldi ? a study about the portrayal of Garibaldi in biographies and focuses on the literary portrayal of Garibaldi in biographies published in the early 20th century and the early 21st century. The purpose of the essay is to describe the possible changes in the way of portraying Garibaldi in biographies and compare the portraying to the portrayal of Garibaldi that Garibaldi himself gives in the American translation of his memoirs, which were published in New York 1859.I have in this study used a constructivist approach with focus on the attributes, ideals and roles of Garibaldi. Research and thoughts from a wide field of science has been used, for example the works on nationalism by Elie Kedourie and Ernest Gellner. The thoughts on biographies as a scientific genre as described in the anthologies Att skriva människan (Ambjörnsson, Ringby & Åkerman red.) and Med livet som insats (Rosengren & Östling red.) has also been of the utmost importance of the study.The results of the study shows that there has been changes in the way of portraying Garibaldi in biographies, as showed in the more unbiased portrayals in the newer biographies.

Denna uppsats undersöker huruvida den dramaturgiska strukturen är en förutsättning för att en situationskomedi ska fungera väl ? det vill säga, vara underhållande och locka till skratt. I en komparativ analys av den mycket väl fungerande amerikanska situationskomedin Friends och den mindre bra svenska situationskomedin Svensson, Svensson framkom dock inga större strukturella brister hos något av analysobjekten. Följaktligen är inte den dramaturgiska strukturen avgörande för slutresultatets förmåga att roa. The aim of this study is to find out if dramatic structure is essential to the sitcom's ability to entertain and make audiences laugh. This study is a comparative analysis of the more humorous American situation comedy Friends and the less humorous Swedish situation comedy Svensson, Svensson.

The history of books and libraries in the Philippines starts after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. During the Spanish era, most of the libraries were established through the religious orders to support their own religious mission. The Americans came in the beginning of the 20th century and have had a decisive influence on the education system and the development of libraries in the Philippines. For the analysis, I have used the models of Michael H. Harris and Magnus Torstensson in their studies of library development.

English title: Is a literary canon necessary? A comparative study based on seven senior high school teachers´ different approaches towards the place of canon in the education of Swedish. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how seven senior high school teachers relate to a literary canon in Swedish while teaching literature in senior high school, identifying similarities and differences among the teachers? view and opinions about an outspoken formal literary canon and a silent, informal canon.The earlier research opens the door slightly to the American debate and gives insight about the complexity of the concept of canon. The study continues with exploring possible relations to postcolonial theory and didactics.    The study reveals that the majority of the concerns against canon are that too much centrally governed education may decrease the motivation and commitment of the teacher. In addition, the dominant canon passivizes a certain variety of literature, thus various points of views. On the other hand, views on the equalizing effect of canon on the level of education and its benefits in increased knowledge of the history of the literature are salient. .

This thesis examines which function the information technology may have in thechildren's library, with the example from two library computer programmes. One is anexpert system, Hedvig, which will help children to choose and to find books, and theother is a computer game, The mysterious signs, that will teach children library user education.The main question is: What conceptions do the project-leaders, the children'slibrarians and the children have concerning the function of these two programmes in thechildren's library?The study is based upon qualitative interviews with two projects-leaders, fourlibrarians, three computer programmers and twenty-eight children.The theoretical material consists of examples on other library computer programmesfor children developed in Denmark and USA, some American studies in children'sabilities to use computerized information retrieval systems, and studies concerningchildren's relations to computers.The adult's conceptions of the computer programmes are divided into categories asfollows: Democracy, aspect of sex, complement, marketing, reading promotion,development of competence, information technology development, pedagogics, adulteducational activities, compensation and armusement, pedagogics, usefulness,effectiveness and information. These categories shall be seen as the conclusions of the thesis..

 AbstractThe focus of this essay is the american director Wes Anderson and the use of colour in his films. I also put some focus on colour as a neglected element in film studies, and what has caused this neglect. In my own research, I have analysed three of Anderson's films: Bottle Rocket (1996), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). To get a broad sense of a films use of colour, I have investigated the colour scheme, the colours of the costumes, as well as colour patterns. I have also interpreted the symbolism related to certain colours and then used the results of the analyses to answer the question; "how does Wes Anderson use colour, and in which film is this most apparent?" A very generalizing answer to this question, is that Anderson use colour as a means of signifying the characters' feelings and ambitions, and also their relations to the themes of the films.

AbstractThis study examines the conclusions made by Roland Paris in his case study of fourteen major post-war reconstruction efforts following the end of the Cold War, and applies them to the current reconstruction process in post-war Iraq. Paris found a common denominator of the fourteen cases ? a belief that a rapid liberalization process, turning war-torn states into liberal market democracies, would foster sustainable peace. Paris calls this belief ?Wilsonianism? after Woodrow Wilson, who was one of the first advocates of it.

An efficient market implies that the use of fundamental analysis should not result in excess return, and that any return exceeding the market average can be explained by compensation for risk, accord-ing to The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The focus of this study is to test whether the suc-cessful investment strategy developed by Piotroski (2000) generates excess return on American data, after risk adjustment by using Fama & French?s (1993) 3-factor and Carhart?s (1997) 4-factor CAPM. Initially we form stock portfolios based on companies characterized by high book-to-market values, additionally, we divide them into different performance classes by ranking them with Piotroski?s (2000) measure of financial performance, F_SCORE.

This essay examines the European Union?s (EU) ability to play a leading role as a global actor on the world stage in international relations. Specifically, this essay studies the EU?s role of negotiator in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.  This essay also analyzes explanations for this role. Research is based on case studies, with conclusions drawn using an inductive approach.

American football is a well-known sport in America. In addition to the design and rules of the game and the surface it is played on, there are also other differences that are not directly visible. One difference noted in this study is how the teams in the game provide players. Each team has a board of directors together with the team's leadership and they will determine which players are most suitable for the team. These players are recruited to the team after graduating from a U.S.

This report will focus on the folkhigh-school in its general form and the role of the libraries on these types of schools in particular. A library on folkhighschools have a tendency to be forgotten and ends up being somewhere in the middle of the libraryworld and the general educational organisations. The purpose of this essay is to examine and provide general views on the different roles that a library on a folkhighschool can have, as well as looking into the unique aspects of the type of school that a folkhighschool is in terms of influencing the libraries placed there. The methodology used in this study is qualitative. Interviews have been held on three different folkhighschools in south of Sweden.