I denna studie testas tio hypoteser som relaterar till finansiell teori för att se hur väl teorin kan förklara skuldsättningsgraden i små börsnoterade bolag. De teorier som testas är avvägningsteorin (trade-off theory), hackordningsteorin (pecking order theory) samt teorier relaterade till asymmetrisk information och agentkostnader. Testen genomförs med multipel linjär regressionsanalys och de undersökta bolagen är samtliga bolag med färre än 200 anställda på tre av de mindre börslistorna i Sverige. Resultatet visar stöd för åtta av de tio undersökta hypoteserna och är i flera avseenden tydligare än i tidigare studier som testar onoterade små bolag eller ett bredare urval av bolag..

The main purpose of this Masters thesis is to contribute to the understanding of high school teachers information seeking behaviour in the transition from university studies to occupational practice. The theoretical framework encompasses theories of professional socialization, the sociology of knowledge, of professions, and of library and information science. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with six recently qualified high school teachers in different subjects. The interviews have been analysed on two different levels; first on a descriptive level and then on a theoretical level. The major findings are that the academic context limited the student teachers information seeking and they did not have the opportunity to choose cognitive authorities on their own initiative.

The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the early process of socialization and its influence on the choices in life, with the example taken from the agricultural family. The question is considering how the process of socialization within an agricultural family has influenced on the choices in life of four women. A qualitative method with a hermeneutic, phenomenologic perspective is applied and four interviews have been done with women who all grew up in an agricultural family. The results have been analysed through social constructive-, psychodynamic-, attachment- and Cognitive theory. The results indicate that socialization is a complex process.

Abstract: The purpose with this study was to explore different peoples preconceived opinions of three psychiatric diagnoses; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). These designations are accompanied by a definite social stigma, which could have profound effects on a person diagnosed with either disorder. These designations carry the risk of excluding and labelling individuals and could provoke a feeling of abnormality and potentially segregate them from the Community. This study is a qualitative study of six individuals, (sample size equals six). The rationale behind the selection was to get a broad representation of different individuals? opinions.

Portable IT devices such as laptops, smart phones and computer tablets are becoming ever more ubiquitous. At the same time, the population of the Western world is growing older, with aging bringing about changes with regards to individuals' physical and mental capabilities. These facts raises important questions about how well suited these devices are for use by elderly people. This study focuses on the cognitive aspects of the devices' usability, using the concept of mental models to analyze the users' understanding of a computer tablet. It also draws upon theory of graphical user interfaces in its analyses.

Att det idag finns flera metoder och modeller för att fatta beslut är inte konstigt då beslutsfattande sker varje dag och i vissa sammanhang kan ge ödesdigra konsekvenser om det blir fel. Denna kandidatuppsats kan ses som en förstudie för hur naturligt beslutsfattande skulle kunna stödjas genom en förbättrad utbildning till beslutsfattare. Uppsatsen ämnar behandla naturligt beslutsfattande och intuition hos experter inom räddningstjänsten, närmare bestämt om de använder intuition och i så fall vad som ligger till grund för denna intuition. Intervjuer utfördes på räddningstjänsten i Motala efter critical decision method som är framtagen för cognitive task analysis. Inom räddningstjänsten använder sig befälen av intuition när de tar det flesta av sina beslut i fält.

New laws and recommendations within corporate governance during the last years have affected the way board of directors work. The board is said to have and fulfill three roles: a control role, a service role and a strategy role. These roles could be understood by three theoretical theories: the agency theory, the resource dependence theory and the stewardship theory. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether, and if so how, the board work differs between two small firms based on these roles, given that one of the firms is a publicly listed firm and the other is a privately owned firm. Using a qualitative case study as research method we find that the board work differs between the two companies when it comes to these roles.

The purpose of the study was to investigate, through an experiment, if positive mood promotes creativity and flexible thinking. Participants were a total of 93 college students. The main hypothesis was that subjects induced with positive mood would perform better than subjects induced with negative mood, at a test reflecting creativity. To further explore the implications of priming (subliminal manipulated moods), a neutral control group was included. The cognitive test used in the study was Duncker´s The Candle Problem, a test which aims to get the subjects to apply flexible and creative thinking.

Background: With increasing age follows higher risks of conditions and illnesses which can cause a decrease in health and wellbeing. A meaningful social environment can positively impact the physical health of older people. Dogs are increasingly being used for different purposes within health care and animal assisted therapy aims to improve people?s physical, social, emotional and cognitive function.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of animal assisted therapy on older people?s health and wellbeing.Methods: A literature review where searches for academic articles in databases PubMed, Cinahl and PsychInfo were performed. The searches resulted in 14 articles which were selected for further review.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to describe various methods of treatment and effects of treatment of ADHD, and to investigate wheater there is an association between adults with ADHD and obesity. Method:  Literature review. Twelve quantitative scientific articles were found in the data bases PubMed, Cinahl and MedLine.  Result: ADHD is a cognitive impairment that can lead to serious complications such as obesity. Studies show that drug treatments of adults with ADHD have positive effects in terms of reduced symptoms, increased efficiency and improved quality of life, but drugs can also cause side effects in form of loss of appetite and insomnia. For adults with ADHD and obesity drugs that affect metabolism have a significant impact on patients ability to lose weight.

This study reviews outdoor educational activity, its contents and qualities, whose basis rests on reform educators as Dewey and Freire. These pedagogues? methodology is based on the interaction between theory and practice, reflection and action. It appears from previous research that: Nature has beneficial effects on human health; Physical activity has positive effects on schoolchildren's health and on their test scores in mathematics and swedish. Training in outdoor education for teachers has contributed to outdoor education having become part of elementary schools´ activities.The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent a School of Nature is useful for three primary school teachers´ activities.

The business potential of software defined radio (SDR) technology is studied by evaluating whether or not its characteristics correspond to those particular to a disruptive technology. The maturity of the SDR technology concept is illuminated by analyzing the opinions and perspectives of a selection of representatives for different stakeholders in the wireless communications market. Characteristics as, for example, the degree of consensus about the utility of SDR technology and the awareness of features and limitations are studied by application of the theory of technological frames. This theory helps us understand how and when technology evolution takes place. Finally we describe the value network structures of some potentially viable application areas for SDR and suggest some possible business opportunities based on SDR technology.This thesis is carried out as a case study and the research data is obtained from secondary sources, such as literature and Internet publications as well as interviews with people well experienced in the field of wireless communications.

Theory of mind är att kunna tillskriva andra människor mentala tillstånd som förklarar deras beteenden. Dessa mentala tillstånd kan röra sig om uppfattningar, intentioner eller känslor.    Theory of Mind Scale är en bedömningsskala utformad av Wellman och Liu (2004), som undersöker olika nivåer av theory of mind. Theory of Mind Scale är uppbyggd i skalsteg med stigande svårighetsgrad. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att översätta Theory of Mind Scale från engelska till svenska samt validera bedömningsskalan för barn mellan 3 och 4 år. Studien syftade även till att se om det fanns ett samband mellan dessa barns förmåga till theory of mind, impressiva grammatiska förmåga och impressiva ordförråd.      Valideringen i föreliggande studie visade att skalstegen i den amerikanska originalversionen av Theory of Mind Scale var applicerbara på barnen i föreliggande studie, med undantag för den sista uppgiften.

The aim of the following paper has been to test the democratic peace theory through applying it on the conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008.  This to either falsify the theory or come to the conclusion that the states? democracy was not satisfactory in regards to the definition of liberal democracy. The questions asked are: Was Russia and Georgia democratic states? Is democracy a protection from war? And which aspects of the liberal democratic theory, if any, were not satisfactory in either of the countries? The results show that the democratic peace theory is valid in this case and that neither one of the states were democratic.

The purpose of this paper has been to follow how a decision made has developed within anorganization. We have intended to find underlying causes for the development in order to contribute to the understanding of the lifecycle of decisions.The decision we have chosen is Gröna Skolgårdar (Green School Yards) within the city of Västerås. This project has aimed to make the school yards in Västerås more green, more beautiful and more useful for teaching.We have used Grounded Theory Method as our foundation, complemented with decisionmaking theory.The work with this paper has led to the conclusion that Gröna Skolgårdar changed over time, and did not turn out as first intended. This has had several couses such as how resources wasdistributed, political changes, and different views of the project.We have learned that over time a decision can take unexpected paths, and we have contributed with an example of how this can happen..