This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

This thesis investigates the effects of active ownership on the return on assets (ROA) of Swedish listed companies during the years 2003 to 2013. Active ownership is operationalized based on the probabilistic voting model that is used to calculate the minimum amount of shares the largest shareholder needs in order to possess control of a contested vote at the shareholder meeting. We study the three largest lists on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, having 1454 observations from 207 companies to test our hypothesis. The main result from the study is that there's a significant positive relationship between active ownership and ROA during the investigated period. The active owners' relative strength also proves to have a significant positive relationship to ROA..

I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag hur barns mående och beteende bedöms i samband med deltagande i stödgrupp på Trappan i Uppsala. Jag studerar SDQ-formulär (Strength and difficulties questions) ifyllda av barn och/eller deras föräldrar 2009- 2011. SDQ mäter sex variabler: a) emotionella problem, b) uppförandeproblem, c) hyperaktivitet/uppmärksamhetsproblem, d) kamratproblem, e) prosocialt beteende samt f) total svårighetspoäng. Materialet utgörs av skattningar för 166 barn. En ny rapport (Skerfving 2011) om utvärdering av stödgrupper i Uppsala län blir ett viktigt jämförelsematerial, men jag gör delvis andra metodiska val än rapporten.

During the recent financial crisis there has been an intense debate regarding small enterprise?s possibilities to borrow money. Statements from interest groups and results from surveys among Swedish non-financial companies indicate that their situation has worsened. Credit worthy enterprises that under normal circumstances would not have any problems getting financing are now facing financial difficulties. In contrast, an economic report from the Bank of Sweden concludes that Sweden does not suffer from a severe credit rationing due to the financial crisis.

This report evaluates various methods that can be used to position a smartphone running the Android platform, without the use of any special hardware or infrastructure and in conditions where GPS is unavailable or unreliable; such as indoors. Furthermore, it covers the implementation of such a system with the use of a deterministic fingerprinting method that is reasonably device independent, a method which involves measuring a series of reference points, called fingerprints, in an area and using those to locate the user.The project was carried on behalf of Sigma, a Swedish software consulting company..

AbstractTitle: ?Fashion be in fashion? ? a qualitative study of the phenomen fashion blogs (?Mode är på modet? ? en kvalitativ studie av fenomenet modebloggar)Number of Pages: 46 (54 including enclosures)Author: Maria RydströmTutor: Else NygrenCourse: Media and communication studies DPeriod: Spring semester 2007University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science,Uppsala universityAim: Contribute to the understanding of a yet unexplored domain, fashion blogs. And contribute to a discussion of the roll of fashion blogs in the swedish fashionindustry.Method: Qualitive textual analysis of three fashion blogs and interviews with the authors to the three fashion blogs. Completed with six interviews with experts from the fashionindustry and the blogworld.Main results: The authors behind the fashion blogs are young women living in big cities.They write about fashionnews, runway trends, fashion items and style outfits worn by them selves. Fashion blogs provide a new way to follow trends and spread them to the society.

This report is the result of a project work carried out at Karlstad University in conjunctionwith the local consulting firm Camatec where most of the work has been performed.The work can be classified as a classic engineering work with supportive theories andcalculations which in this context is relevant.The engineering project has focused on developing new standards for a conveyor that is usedin the Värmland paper industry where large rolls of paper are produced. A conveyor can takeits appearance in many different forms but in this thesis it has been an exemplary look and ithas also become modulatable with a central section, a drive end and a turning end.The construction work has been build under CAD programs such as Pro Engineer, drawingshave been created and costings have been analyzed. Strength calculations have been made andcooperation from several different companies have erected to explore different solutions andideas for a modern and sustainable conveyor..

                                                  AbstractThe development of our society has in many ways changed the relationships between the political parties and the citizens. Fewer citizens are active in political parties, which has contributed to the fact that we see a form of catch-all effect and a development of parties that organizes more in forms of professional organisations. This paper has made a research of modells of democratic ideals and values between leaders and party-members in political parties in the local area. The purpose has been to show how these ideals and values can reflect back on the political development. The result shows that the development has created a form of catch-all effect and a professionalism in the parties.

Being a patient in intensive care can be experienced terrifying. Studies have demonstrated the link between unpleasant memories of hospitalization in the ICU and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and perception of quality of life in its aftermath. Placed on a ventilator, the patient is exposed to multiple invasive procedures. The aim was to describe critical care patients' experience of being intubated or tracheostomated. Method: Literature review using conventional content analysis.

This master thesis is discussing ten pony books from 2006 in relation to the heterosexual matrix. It contains a rather extensive research overview regarding horse riding from a gender perspective, pony books, traditional feminist studies of girls? books and queer readings of girls? and children?s literature. The aim of the empirical study is two folded; firstly to show how the girl protagonists? horse riding is presented in terms of masculinity and femininity (as defined by Natalie Koivula), secondly to analyze the relations between the girls appearing in the books from a queer perspective attempting to find some queer leakage in the depictions.

Syftet med studien är att få en ökad förståelse för några bakomliggande orsaker till varför människor begår kriminella handlingar. Studiens övergripande frågeställningar är följande; På vilket sätt påverkar umgängeskretsen en individs förutsättningar för att utveckla en kriminell livsstil? Hur kan dessa bakomliggande orsaker till kriminalitet förklaras och förstås? Frågeställningarna besvaras genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem individer med tidigare kriminell bakgrund. Med hjälp av en tematisk analysmetod struktureras intervjumaterialet upp i tre teman vilka har formulerats med utgångspunkt i det datamaterial som har samlats in. Analysen görs med hjälp av tidigare forskning och teorier om differentiella associationer och förstärkningar, symbolisk interaktionism, stämpling och sociala band.Studien visar att de intervjuade hamnade i kriminalitet till följd av att deras uppväxt, skolsituation och umgänge interagerade negativt med varandra.

The subject of this dissertation is the autobiographical novel Arnold by the Swedish writer Emilia Fogelklou (1878-1972). By combining Gérard Genette?s narratology and Andrew Gibson?s narrative ethics this study seeks to examine through what means the relationship is being told and with what ethical consequences different strategies are used to tell one?s experiences from life. The narrative analysis focuses on how the narrator is engaged in the narrative, how the bond between narrator and characters can be described, what is known to whom and how, and what is beyond the narrative?s limits.

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..

In this report, the risk of cracking in joints and/in adjacent concrete is estimated by checking shear forces in joints and the ratio between the actual maximum principal stress ant the actual strength of the concrete. The shear force has been estimated both by simple methods as well as by two-dimensional calculations. The risk of cracking in the concrete and/or in the joints is estimated with the computer program ConStre. The restraint from a resilient foundation or rock on a young concrete construction is estimated by a simple method that is exemplified. It is shown that the restraint can be neglected in some cases.

Shear Strength and Deformation Characteristics of Uppsala Clay with CRS and Standard OedometerTyra Morell Bonin & Magdalena MählerTo see how much a clay compact under different pressure one can use several different methods and in this project, two methods were used, the Standard Oedometer and a CRS apparatus. A Standard Oedometer is a full-time manual device and the CRS apparatus is a modern electric and automatic device. The aim of the project was to see similarities and differences between the two methods and examine which method that were most reliable. This has been done with repeated laboratory tests and afterward evaluations. With this information one can get a picture of how the clay will behave and how it will deform in nature.