European cities of today are under the challenge to find ways to stay competitive and flourish in a rapidly changing world, where the old patterns of centrality and periphery not necessarily holds true. New and improved communication networks, a changed political geography in Europe, and the globalisation of not only the financial and industrial markets but also to a certain extent the globalisation of people, have all led to great challenges for cities and regions.In a changed spatial reality the classic monocentric models are challenged by newer models of urbanisation. The polycentric urban region is one such model which has been used to describe urban regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands and the Rhein-Ruhr region in Germany. Regions which lack the single dominant central city of the monocentric models of old, and instead shows a high degree of more equal-sized and sometimes more specialised cities in regional cooperation. The polycentric urban region is in that aspect a possible model for how other urbanised regions in Europe may act to be able to position themselves as attractive urban regions and regional hubs in the European urban network.Polycentric urban regions are not a universal solution, though.

The progress in the field of technology is often described as massive and its development has had a great impact on the social development (Vetenskapsrådet, 2012). As a result of the digital evolution, there has been a change in the way customer and company interact (Normann, 2011). The traditional way for players to interact with each other required an interaction human to human (ibid), a mode of interaction that now can be replaced or supplemented by todays technology and often Internet-based solutions (Salomonson et al., 2013). These technological solutions, the technical interaction, are often referred to as self-service systems. These systems enables the customer to carry out the tasks previously performed by the company (Hilton and Hughes, 2013).

Lately the popularity to keep different species of dwarf hamsters has increased in Sweden. The requirements of the Swedish legislation to keep hamsters as pets are low which could be a reason for the increasing popularity. Hamsters are in nature generally nocturnal and can travel far distances to find food sources during their active part of the day. Their eyesight is poor, but is compensated by their well-developed hearing and olfaction. ?Run about balls? are made of plastic and the hamster is placed inside it where after the ball is placed on the floor and the hamster can then run protected outside the cage.

Title: Female leaders within the bank sector. Level: D-level in Business Author: Emma Roos & Fanny Wiklander Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: 2011 ? January Aim: The aim of this study is to examine which factors are behind the low number of female leaders compared to male leaders within the bank sector. Method: We have adapted a qualitative method. This means that the researcher works close to the object of research and tries to understand it. We believe that this is a suitable method for our study since it?s based on seven personal interviews.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the most important establishment criteria for companies whointend to do a new establishment. There are differences between regions regarding attraction on startup.Some regions have few new businesses while others continuously expanded its activities in variousfields. The biggest focus on the thesis is the Gävle- Borlänge region where MellansvenskaHandelskammaren is active.Mellansvenska Handelskammaren saw a need for the assignment after the magazine ?IntelligentLogistik? ranked the Gävle region at 15:th place and Falun/Borlänge at 20:th place in the list over thetop 25 best logistics locations in Sweden. This made them wonder what could be made to develop intoa better area with more amenities and a better place in the ranking of the magazine.

The study was performed based on a qualitative method using a hermeneutical approach used to interpret the semi-structured interviews. The study aimed to investigate the Multisystemic therapy (MST) team in Halmstad municipality perceptions on the treatment method multisystemic therapy for youths from the ages of 12-18 years old.The questions were: Does the MST therapists experience that the MST is a method that leads to an improved situation for young people who receive the method? What do the MST therapists describe as opportunities and obstacles in the work with the method?The study builds on previous research on MST and empowerment based on MST. The study shows three therapists and an MST leader's experiences of the treatment and how it is aimed at influencing the parents and the youth for a change. From therapists statements it highlights how the MST method is designed for the young people?s motivation to change by means of the internal and external networks.

In today?s fast changing environment it is important for knowledge intense companies that want to stay competitive to actively work with their knowledge, knowledge sharing and Knowledge Management (KM). Barriers decrease the efficiency of how knowledge is created, stored and shared, and they are therefore important to reduce or preferably remove making the KM activities result in as much value for the organisation as possible. To achieve this, it is important that the KM activities become a natural part of the employees? daily work.

Varje år arrangeras ett flertal evenemang runt om i världen och städer slåss om att få stora arrangemang och festivaler till just sin stad. En av alla dessa festivaler är Putte i Parken som är en årlig musikfestival som från början arrangerades i Karlskoga. Allt eftersom festivalen växte blev dock staden för liten, vilket resulterade i att man år 2012 flyttade Putte i Parken till Karlstad. Denna uppsats koncentrerar sig på att försöka finna de samhällsekonomiska konsekvenserna som uppstått på grund av denna flytt och hur de olika kommunerna påverkats av festivalen. Med hjälp av en kostnadsnyttoanalys har de olika effekter som uppkommit på grund av flytten hittats och dessa har sedan till stor del omvandlats till en monetär enhet (SEK).

This study is based on the notion that the most widely cited and used instrument for assessing volunteer motivations, the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI), might not be sufficient in its aspiration to aid, streamline and benefit the recruitment and retention process within volunteer organizations. Understanding volunteers? motivation is a crucial component in the process of securing future volunteer engagement in a world where their efforts are desperately needed.This study aims to explain motives and motivation behind volunteer efforts in extreme situations as well as to examine the dependability of the theoretical framework in relation to the forthcoming result, based on the following research questions:What motivated Swedish medical personnel to volunteer during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa?How could the motives and motivation of Swedish medical personnel be categorized in accordance with the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI)?Is the Volunteer Function Inventory (VFI) a sufficient tool for analyzing the motives and motivation of Swedish medical personnel in the given case?The presented research questions will be answer through a qualitative theory-consuming study, based mainly on interviews. The interviews are, however, complimented by various written sources in the field of research.The result and subsequent analysis confirms the authors? notion on the VFI and highlights certain deficits in the tool?s execution and its succeeding result.

AbstractOur purpose for making this study is to study the implementation, the use of and the effects of Lean within our case objects.  We chose to make this thesis by case studies. The three themes mentioned above is also the main research questions that we aim to find an answer to by this study. We have chosen to do a cross section analysis where we conducted structured interviews to find answers to these questions. The theoretical reference frame consists partly of traditional theoreticians within Lean but also more recent research within the subject as well as theory specifically for Lean within the Health Care sector.The result of this study shows in all our case studies that the Management has been supporting the implementation, but that the implementation process proceeds faster if also the professionals are involved in the process.  To succeed with the implementation there is a great need for good reasons and strives that can benefit the professionals. By the use of Lean our case studies have evaluated its processes, with the main intentions being to reduce waste activities and to create flows with ?pull systems?.

Buildings worldwide account for 40 % of the total energy use. Climate change is of increasing importance, but few are willing to reduce their standard of living or get a higher cost for the change. Energy efficiency of existing buildings gives the greatest benefit economically and environmentally. The real estate company Klövern AB manages 46 properties in Karlstad. Heating is the major cost of the total operating costs of real estate. Rising energy prices increase the need for Klövern AB to improve energy efficiency and to investigate alternative sources of heat.

AbstractTitle: Level/Degree/Grade:Authors:Supervisor:Research question:Purpose:How the bank may improve its financial counselling ? A qualitative case study.Bachelor Thesis; Business administration; Corporate finance.Andreas A?strand, Anton Persson, Kristoffer Wedebrand.Hans Mo?rner.How may the bank improve its financial counselling to private investors using portfolio theory?Our purpose is to examine the advice, with basis in portfolio theory, the bank?s financial advisors provide to their clients, the investors, and how they can improve. If we can identify and point out areas of improvement in the financial counselling, we hope to raise the question and contribute with an improved financial counselling. Another positive effect we are hoping for is to improve the situation for the investors whereas all parties benefit from an improved portfolio selection.This study is conducted through a qualitative case study, where we used a deductive approach and collected our data through personal interviews.The conclusion that emerges is that the financial counselling could potentially be improved if financial advisors improve their knowledge in portfolio theory.The originality shapes through the opportunity to investigate a specific bank and because of that an opportunity to examine a specific case more thoroughly was created. Our thesis contributes with opening La?nsfo?rsa?kringar?s and other banks? eyes to how their financial counselling could be improved through new knowledge in portfolio theory.

AbstractTo benefit the economic growth of a country, it is important for the inhabitants to make the decision to become business owners. Sweden today, apart from the rest of Europe, is facing a growing problem. The numbers of companies are growing, but the numbers of company owners are not. As a result of this, the employment is not able to develop under the same conditions, when the opportunities of employment decrease. Research shows, that the interest for owning a company among the Swedish youth has increased.

The cadastral index map is a great benefit to the surveying and governments. The map's main purpose is to show how the overall cadastral division looks in Sweden. The lack of quality of the cadastral index map dose not allows property-owners to know where to draw the boundary between their and others' property. In order to know where to find the boundaries between two properties, is it up to the property-owners themselves (self or in company by the other property-owner) to construct various usucaption at the boundaries. The main objective of the study is to verify the existence and extent of usucaption on forest properties in Bodan, a village outside Skellefteå.

AbstractOur purpose for making this study is to study the implementation, the use of and the effects of Lean within our case objects.  We chose to make this thesis by case studies. The three themes mentioned above is also the main research questions that we aim to find an answer to by this study. We have chosen to do a cross section analysis where we conducted structured interviews to find answers to these questions. The theoretical reference frame consists partly of traditional theoreticians within Lean but also more recent research within the subject as well as theory specifically for Lean within the Health Care sector.The result of this study shows in all our case studies that the Management has been supporting the implementation, but that the implementation process proceeds faster if also the professionals are involved in the process.  To succeed with the implementation there is a great need for good reasons and strives that can benefit the professionals. By the use of Lean our case studies have evaluated its processes, with the main intentions being to reduce waste activities and to create flows with ?pull systems?.