This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of interest rate swap spreads in Sweden during the period 1999-2003. The results suggest that the spread between STIBOR and the general collateral repo rate is positively related to shorter maturity swap spreads. The risk premium associated with commercial bonds is positively related to swap spreads of all maturities. A negative relationship is observed between the term structure of interest rates and swap spreads. The short-term interest rate is positively related to spreads with shorter maturities.

Samtidigt som traditionella religioner är på tillbakagång vänder sig allt fler människor till den magi och mysticism som kännetecknar new age. Forskningen har hittills närmat sig detta fenomen genom korrelationsstudier, demografiska kartläggningar och analyser av vad new age-anhängare tror på. I denna explorativa, induktiva studie berättade i stället fem kvinnor i halvstrukturerade intervjuer om vad deras new age-tro betytt för dem. Koncentrering av bärande utsagor i dimensionerna betydelse, tro relaterad till icke-tro, kunskapskällor och ontologi genererade fyra faktorer: existentiell trygghet som skyddar mot osäkerhet under livets gång och hämmar ångest inför livets oundvikliga slut; upphöjdhet genom insikter och medvetenhet som icke-troende saknar; antiintellektualism som betonar känslor och intuition på bekostnad av förnuft och logik; relativism som stipulerar att var och en har sin egen sanning. En funktionell modell som tydliggör hur faktorerna relaterar till varandra diskuteras, liksom resultatets integrering i ett teoretiskt ramverk och riktlinjer för framtida forskning..

The increasing significance of social economy as a concept is linked to general global processes such as the crisis of the welfare state, neoliberal globalization, anti-bureaucracy tendencies and decentralization, but also to a growing political interest in human rights and social development. In Sweden the idea of the social economy generates wide support within civil society as well as within the government and across party political boundaries. Furthermore, what is problematic in this context is the fact that the discussions on the subject tend to be relatively uncritical and often it seems as if though the expansion itself is the main objective. The emphasis on cooperation and the third sector in terms of welfare production implies a set of risks in relation to state responsibility, democracy and the autonomy of civil society. This paper aims to explore those risks and how they can be dealt with within the Swedish context..

This thesis discusses the representation of bodies in todays non-fiction television in Sweden. I have chosen to focus on deviant bodies (sexual, deformed or unhealthy) on display in reality-shows and documentaries on SVT, TV4 but especially on the commercial channels TV3 and Kanal5. Also discussed are the viewers emotional and bodily reactions. Altough these shows are different from one another in many respects, I argue that there is also a common thread between them. From a sociological and cultural perspective, and with help of some historical examples, I try to illustrate how we view these shows and what their function is.

The thesis demonstrates protection solutions that can be suitable for a camp during internationalmissions in order to resist complex threats. The threats could consist of small arms, machineguns,RPG 7, anti armour missiles, mortar, artillery, HPM-weapons, car bombs, biological and chemicalweapons as well as sabotage and theft. It?s not the technology itself that makes the threat scenariocomplex it?s the way the opponent acts during the operations. The opponent acts usually incivilian clothes and therefore he is difficult to distinguish from other civilians.

This essay is about a debate concerning the magazine Axess, feminism and antifeminism - in relation to a issue of Axess called To a new feminism. The theoretical foundation of this essay is Pierre Bourdieu and his field theories. The battles taking place in this particular field concerns the positioning of feminism and antifeminism in the way we culturally interpret these in our society. The essay shows that the magazine Axess (at least in the first edition of 2012) links feminism with a very prominent symbolic capital in a culture context. This discussion can at times seem confusing, and this is probably due to the fact that Bourdieus symbolic capital can be a very abstract concept. The journalist and author Maria Sveland writes about the development of a culture moving towards accepting antifeminism (and also xenophobia). She expresses the opinion that this, to a high degree, is due to actors in the culture domain with a big amount of trust in the public eye has moved towards expressing anti-feministic (and xenophobic) views.

The neo-classical conception of the market place does not provide a framework to account for ethical or moral action. As a result, the neo-classical model is unable to explain the impact of ethical and moral issues on business sustainability present in the modern economy. To address this limitation, this thesis investigates whether theories of ethics can help explain the motivations and actions of stakeholders within the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition, the thesis explores whether theories of ethics are presented differently within aspects of the stakeholder model. Semi - structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders within the CSR sector, including a NGO, a commercial firm and a CSR consultancy firm.

The first main purpose of this essay is to describe the situation of young women today here in this part of the world concerning influences from commercial media.The second purpose with this essay is to investigate if dance could be used as a tool against all these sterotyped and superficial pictures and ideals in the industy of commersial media.With some questions I also want to get closer to the answer if dancing is a way for young women to get insight knowledge. I also describe women from dance history who experienced that dance filled them up with energy but also environment where there was oppression.This essay has a gender perspective.The methods are manly based on literature studies but information is also gathered from the Internet and from one film.My results are that dance is a very constructive way to give the young woman that force which is needed when meeting media pictures everywhere. It gives her self-confidence, body awareness, joy and strength in life..

Mobile Arts have a technical platform for handling maps and community-featured Points of Interest in cellular phones, where the users themselves can share locations with other users either in groups or public. Development of the platform regarding network communication has been included in this paper. The work evaluates different feasible business models regarding packaging the platform as a commercial application and also faces issues users have when using the product. Even if users found maps and POI interesting and cool in cellulars, the technical difficulties and lack of product focus during beta testing, were present. Therefore, the writers recommendation is more development of the platform and using a business model where Mobile Arts deliver to existing communities.

Rapid development in the realms of electronic publishing has had a profound impact on information services in general and the academic library in particular. Since mid 1990´s an increasingly number of scholarly journals and other information resources have been made available electronically. Electronic books are the newest electronic service in the hybrid library and can be seen as the third wave in the digital library. Although electronic books have for a long time existed as electronic texts such as digitalized classics or other texts in the public domain, it is not until recently that e-books have been distributed and packaged in a commercial form. As more e-book models are being developed, libraries are being forced to take e-books into consideration when planning their information services.The aim of this master thesis is to describe the first stage of implementation of the new electronic media, the electronic book or e-book, in Swedish academic libraries.

This is a Minor field study addressing the current situation in Vientiane, Laos where focus lies on the green structures past, present and future. The city of Vientiane is growing rapidly and as a result of this there is a increasing development. The once peaceful capital known for it?s lush and green environment is standing in a crossroad where important decision must be made to preserve valuable areas. During 8 weeks inventories and observations where made resulting into a proposal for future development. The proposal is divided into three parts. The urban fringe and surrounding landscape are still quite undeveloped and have a great potential of green wedges etc. The city of Vientiane and the green network linking important recreational, commercial and cultural places. Detailed proposal over certain green objects such as parks and squares..

This essay is about a debate concerning the magazine Axess, feminism and antifeminism - in relation to a issue of Axess called To a new feminism. The theoretical foundation of this essay is Pierre Bourdieu and his field theories. The battles taking place in this particular field concerns the positioning of feminism and antifeminism in the way we culturally interpret these in our society. The essay shows that the magazine Axess (at least in the first edition of 2012) links feminism with a very prominent symbolic capital in a culture context. This discussion can at times seem confusing, and this is probably due to the fact that Bourdieus symbolic capital can be a very abstract concept. The journalist and author Maria Sveland writes about the development of a culture moving towards accepting antifeminism (and also xenophobia). She expresses the opinion that this, to a high degree, is due to actors in the culture domain with a big amount of trust in the public eye has moved towards expressing anti-feministic (and xenophobic) views.

This paper aims to present a theoretical understanding of the emergence of extreme right- wing populist parties (ERP), and more specifically the electoral breakthrough of the ERP party, Sverigedemokraterna in the municipality of Karlskrona. By doing so the study is constructed as a theoretical framework, where the empirical material and the theoretical aspects are interwoven. This means that the theoretical framework also functions as an analytical part. The paper shows how Sverigedemokraterna could be understood as an ERP party, based on e.g its populist anti-establishment critique, and its critique towards the ?immigrant issue?.

Sociala medier är idag, framförallt i Sverige, ett utbrett sätt att kommunicera såväl det privata livet som den egna världsbilden. Allt vanligare blir det att på dessa medier diskutera politik och länka artiklar, bilder samt filmer för att stärka sina politiska åsikter. Studiens syfte är att jämföra om den politiska diskursen skiljer sig mellan s.k. face to face-situation samt på sociala medier, i detta fall Twitter. Med hjälp av intervjuer samt textanalys av twitterflöden har denna undersökning sökt få ökade kunskaper med hänsyn till diskursteorier byggda på en socialkonstruktionistisk syn med anti-essentialistiska inslag.

The use of chainsaws in both private forestry and commercial companies is highly associated with personal injuries and accidents with deadly outcome. As a result to this, a driver?s license for chainsaws was presented in the year 2005. To get the license you have to attend a course given by the Swedish Forest Agency or one of several private educators. This study is an evaluation of one course given by the Swedish Forest Agency in Uppsala.