SEB Merchant Banking provides to its institutional customers a true market neutral product called Dynamic Manager Alpha (DMA). The DMA is constructed by a long position in an exceptionally well performing mutual fund and a beta adjusted short position in an appropriate index. The key to making the product market neutral is adjusting with the correct beta, since the beta changes, it is very important to have a good model for predicting beta in the future.This master thesis begins with describing what beta is in a CAPM sense. It then continues with recognizing the so called ?Two Beta Trap?, which separates two kinds of beta.

SEB Merchant Banking provides to its institutional customers a true market neutral product called Dynamic Manager Alpha (DMA). The DMA is constructed by a long position in an exceptionally well performing mutual fund and a beta adjusted short position in an appropriate index. The key to making the product market neutral is adjusting with the correct beta, since the beta changes, it is very important to have a good model for predicting beta in the future.This master thesis begins with describing what beta is in a CAPM sense. It then continues with recognizing the so called ?Two Beta Trap?, which separates two kinds of beta.

Mosquitoes are found in extremely large numbers in the lower parts of the River Dalälven. In the year 2000 the mosquito nuisance was especially high, resulting in foundation of the Biological mosquito control project. Since 2001 mosquito larvae are controlled by using a biological pesticide BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp israelensis). The mosquito fauna in the area is dominated by flood water mosquitoes, a group of mosquitoes that are very aggressive and form new generations of mosquitoes during every single flooding event during the summer. To be able to efficiently control the mosquitoes it is essential to know the extension and locality of the flooding.

By using steady-state measurements for predicting emissions under a dynamic drive cycle wouldsave a lot of time and money for the exhaust aftertreatment specialists at Volvo cars. The idea forthis thesis has been to investigate if statistical regression models can be used with good accuracy.Questions included are for example if common operating variables such as engine speed, air-fuelratio etc. is sufficient to predict engine-out emissions over the engine operating range with goodaccuracy. Focus was set on the modelling of warm engine, but also the more complex engineheat-up phase was investigated since it is a great contributor to total emissions. While NOxcouldnot be measured because of malfunctioning measurement equipment, only HC, CO andtemperature at inlet of first catalytic converter has been modelled.

Background: During the year 2002 approximately 27 000 people lost their jobs because of companies filing for bancruptcy. In 2002 the number of companies filing for bancruptcy in Sweden were 6740. This is approximately twice as many as in the year of 1974 when the first major study concerning bancruptcies in Sweden was carried out. The accumulated amount of unpaid bancruptcy claims for the period 1991 ? 1997 was 51 billion SEK.

The aim of this study was to evaluate different types of volume and taper equations that can be used to predict single-tree stem volume and stem diameter at any given height along the tree stem for plantation grown Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) and White spruce (Picea glauca (Mounch) Voss) in Iceland. A number of published tree volume equations were tested and modified to predict the total stem volumes over bark but three logarithmic equations were taken for more in-depth analysis. Three taper equations were tested. Two variable-exponent equations (Kozak 1997, Kozak 2004) and one exponential equation described by Biging (1984). Data from a total of 617 sample trees were used in this study, collected from stands in various parts of the country and present different types of stands growing in different soil types and cover most of the site conditions suitable for forestry in Iceland.

Problem: Konkurser drar med sig höga kostnader på olika sätt, och genom åren har många försök gjorts att finna modeller som kan förutse konkurser och därigenom undvika dem. Några av de mest beprövade modellerna är Altmans olika Z-scoremodeller, som genom åren visat olika resultat. Allt fler företag blir också verksamma inom tjänstesektorn, och forskningen menar att dessa företag skiljer sig från tillverkande företag när det gäller dess nyckeltal, vilket alltså borde påverka möjligheterna att förutse konkurser enligt de modeller som idag finns.Syfte: Kontrollera huruvida Altmans Z´´-scoremodell fungerar på små- och medelstora tjänsteföretag i Sverige, men även om korrelation mellan ett företags kreditbetyg och dess Z´´-score föreligger.Metod: Uppsatsen är skriven utifrån ett positivistiskt synsätt med deduktiv ansats, och bygger på kvantitativ sekundärdata. Analyser görs genom hypotesprövning.Slutsats: Altmans Z´´-scoremodell fungerar dåligt på tjänsteföretag inom segmentet små- och medelstora företag i Sverige. Resultatet blir detsamma, även om modellen tillämpas på    tillverkande företag och handelsföretag.

A study was performed to evaluate whether established methods of analysis of protein content in barley (Kjeldahl, Dumas, or NIT (short for Near Infrared Transmittance)) gives different results for wet and dried barley. This was carried out because there are concerns regarding the well-worn NIT prediction model giving different results for these conditions and that such an error causes significant price fluctuations on the market. By performing analyses of samples, both before and after drying, of the three different barley varieties Tipple, Prestige, and Quench, with all the techniques, data was obtained that could be analyzed statistically. The study showed that the NIT prediction model gives results for wet barley that is about 0.29 percentage points higher compared to dried barley. This difference was also statistically significant when a t-test was performed.

Fusarium head blight is a large problem world wide which reduces the yields and the quality of small grains. Shrunken kernels with decreased thousand kernel weight as an effect and pro-duction of mycotoxins are some of the problems caused by infection of Fusarium spp. To avoid toxin contaminated bulks to enter the food and feed chain it is important to have tools for prediction and analysis of the fungi and toxins. Good prediction methods are also impor-tant in the breeding industry since early identification in trials of lines with high resistance or susceptibility simplify the work. To compare different techniques for these objectives this project was initiated.

In the beginning of the 21th century several successful companies filed for bankruptcy. These bankruptcies have been known as large accounting scandals and the largest scandals did Enron and Worldcom stand for. These bankruptcies arose without any warning signal from the auditors about the companies? financial problems and their inability to continue as a going concern. The bankruptcies damaged the reputation of auditors and broad criticism has developed at the auditors? inability to discover companies? financial problems and their unwillingness to reveal a going concern opinion in the audit report.

This Master of Science Thesis was a complement project to the PIEp study MENTOL, carried out at a Swedish midsize medical device company.. PIEp nationally works for a long-term increase of the innovation capability of people and organizations. The purpose of this study was to find measuring parameters of innovation that fit medium-sized technological companies and organizations, Another purpose was to evaluate an innovation investment at the company, consisting of external consultant?s education of key personnel in innovation, and a two day innovation seminar with all personnel at the company participating. The methods used during this Master of Science Thesis were: feasibility and literature studies about innovation and innovation measurements, quantitative and qualitative interviews, surveys and workshops.For an accurate measure of innovation it is crucial to a have full understanding of what innovation is, and clarity of the purpose of the measurement itself.

Fusarium head blight is a large problem world wide which reduces the yields and the quality of small grains. Shrunken kernels with decreased thousand kernel weight as an effect and pro-duction of mycotoxins are some of the problems caused by infection of Fusarium spp. To avoid toxin contaminated bulks to enter the food and feed chain it is important to have tools for prediction and analysis of the fungi and toxins. Good prediction methods are also impor-tant in the breeding industry since early identification in trials of lines with high resistance or susceptibility simplify the work. To compare different techniques for these objectives this project was initiated.

The aim of the study was to investigate if the Grazemore Decision Support System (DSS) is able to provide a grazing management strategy that gives a high utilisation of grazed grass in milk production in the north of Scandinavia. To do this, a grazing experiment was planed and performed during the summer 2005. Simulations in the DSS were run to get a suggestion of how the cows should graze, grazing calendar 1. Deviations and updates during the season resulted in the simulated grazing calendar 2. During the experiment, the actual milk yield was recorded twice weekly. The difference between actual and predicted milk yield by Grazemore DSS was analysed statistically with regression analysis and the mean square prediction error (MSPE) was estimated.

  SammanfattningFöretag har alltid drabbats av ekonomiska svårigheter och gått i konkurs. Detta faktum harlänge intresserat forskare och legat till grund för en mängd studier inom området.Kassaflödesanalysens användbarhet vid konkursprognostisering har länge diskuterats ochtidigare forskning har visat på varierande resultat. Eftersom en kassaflödesanalys visar på detfaktiska in- och utflödet av pengar i företaget tror vi att den kan utgöra en viktigare indikatorpå om ett företag befinner sig i kris än resultat- och balansräkningen, som lättare kanmanipuleras. De flesta företag som går i konkurs är mindre företag, som inte omfattas av det lagstiftande kravet på att upprätta en kassaflödesanalys. Därför anser vi det intressant att studera vilket stöd en kassaflödesanalys kan utgöra för att förutsäga en konkurs.Detta mynnar ut i vår problemformulering:· Hur kan en kassaflödesanalys bidra till att prognostisera en framtida konkurs av små aktiebolag?Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka om tillämpningen av en kassaflödesanalys påverkar prognostiseringen av en eventuell framtida konkurs i ett aktiebolag.

This thesis assignment at C-level is focused on calculation models and prediction methodswhish can be used in the stage we call ?prospecting? of possible windmill locations. Thelocation is southeast of Halmstad at the Farm ?Stjernarpsgods?. The rapport has two mainareas directed towards this task.