The focus of our dissertation is masculinity which is often a topic of debate in today?s society concerning areas such as violence, sport and paternal leave. Male studies are a relatively new field which means there is a lot remaining to be explored. We have chosen to explore how social class reflects on male identity. The reason we have chosen social class as a variable is due to a focus in the general debate of identity amongst the social sciences towards identities formed through consumption in the world of global mass-media.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the constructions of sexuality, which are produced when judgments concerning asylum are made, based on an asylum seeker?s sexual orientation. The question formulations are the following: Which constructions of sexuality are produced when necessary condition, fear of persecution due to sexual orientation, is applied in judgments regarding refugee status? Furthermore, how constructions of sexuality differ in the judgments where the asylum seeker has been consented and rejected is investigated. The empirical material consists of 13 judgments, which were announced between the years 2009-2013 by the Migration court.

The purpose of the thesis has been to explore the use of hedge fund styles when constructing portfolios of hedge funds (i.e. funds of hedge funds). The central question is if the use of hedge fund styles can significantly explain and improve risk adjusted returns (characterized by Sharpe ratios). The study has been done in collaboration with Optimized Portfolio Management AB who desire further knowledge and evaluation of hedge fund styles for their fund of hedge funds.To be able to create successful ex ante portfolios we have explored various prediction models for both risk and return. Our findings indicate that return prediction is problematic using simple models such as regression since the risk exposure of the indices appear to change significantly over time.

Regional European Offices with the purpose to represent regions and municipalities in the EU-system have had a substantial expansion over the last years. One example is the North Sweden European Office for the counties of Norrbotten and Västerbotten, consisting of seven different headmen who are representing both the private sector as well as the public system. This diverse leadership representation makes North Sweden a very good example on a so called Quango, organisations that stand under simultaneous influence from both public and private sectors. These Quangos opens up new possibilities to solve public problems, but they also bring together two different working models which is not always easy to handle for a Quango. According to earlier surveys some characteristic Quango problems within North Sweden exist, for example the ability to prioritize and thereby be as effective as possible.

Due to recent legal enactments regarding carbon dioxide emissions, the car industry is facing higher demands. An effective way of reducing these emissions is to minimize the weight of the vehicle. This thesis constitutes a feasibility study on whether or not it is applicable for the car industry to utilize an inner floor structure comprising composite materials. The principal was the projectSåNätt, in which the main participant was Volvo Cars Corp. In consultation with a reference group, consisting of delegates from the industry and KTH, a specification of requirements was produced.

Precis som människans allergiska astma beror kattastma på en överreaktion av immunförsvaret i nedre luftvägarna med IgE som huvudsaklig mediator. Detta resulterar i ett Th 2-svar som leder till kronisk eosinofil inflammation med hosta, bronkkonstriktion och andnöd som följd. Forskning och diagnostik försvåras av att mycket om sjukdomen är dåligt beskrivet. Eosinofiler i luftvägarna är en av de parametrar som används mest i forskningen, trots att det idag inte finns några fastslagna referensvärden för friska och sjuka individer. Oklarheter om eosinofilvärdet är den största bristen i dagens forskning och diagnostik och är den parameter man bör lägga mest fokus på i framtiden. Astma behandlas normalt med fokus på symptomen genom systemisk administration av glukokortikoider. Glukokortikoiderna ges i så låg dos som möjligt som fortfarande lindrar symptomen.

Background: Language skills are of great importance for all work at school and for students' future life and activities. Therefore it is particularly important that preschool and school in every way possible should encourage and support ALL children's linguistic development. Many linguists points out that all learning takes place best in natural and meaningful contexts and around a meaningful content.Theory: The study is based on theories created by the renowned theorist Lev Vygotsky who illustrates what is important to encourage children's reading development. Vygotsky?s theories regarding the zone for the next development were reflected in the study.

This thesis has two aims: The main purpose is to describe and illustrate how a large Ltd. company can use voluntary redundancy as a tool for restructuring. The additional purpose is to challenge the concept of voluntary redundancy trough outlining alternative ways of reaching the intended achievements of the voluntary redundancy programme. The theoretical framework that has been used primarily contains knowledge assets theories. The chosen theories are intellectual capital and knowledge management theory to approach and analyse the empirical findings.

BAE Systems Hägglunds has a long history of producing high performance terrain tracked vehicles (mostly for military applications), and they are now aiming at developing a tracked forwarder with similar techniques.The forwarder will be of series hybrid type where a diesel engine via a generator will power the motors (one for each drive wheel). Thanks to individually controlled motors and the gentle rubber tracks, this forwarder is calculated to have a considerably higher average speed in the terrain and to be more gentle to the soil. The forwarder with a weight of 11 metric tons and a load capacity of 15 metric tons is specified to have an average working speed of 7-10 km/h, a top speed in terrain of 15 km/h and a top speed on roads of 40 km/h.This master?s thesis aims at developing a conceptual design of the forwarder?s drive module which includes electric motor, gear unit, brake and drive wheel.To investigate if the requirements can be fulfilled a study of the dimensioning loading scenarios has been carried out. The resulting needs regarding the torque has been considered in order to determine the required gear ratios for different motor options.

SCA has today almost 300 000 hectares of their forest land planted with lodgepole pine(Pinus contorta var. latifolia). Due to initial extensive planting in the 1970ies the area oflodgepole pine forests in the thinning age has grown rapidly from the end of the 1990ies.During the years 1996-2005 first commercial thinning of lodgepole pine at SCA took place.The goal of the hereby presented study was to investigate the growth and stability in thosefirstly-thinned lodgepole pine stands a few years after thinning. Furthermore, the objectivewas to investigate the relationship between stand stability and different stand parameters.Additionally, lodgepole pine stem quality was estimated.The study is mainly based on the data collected during an inventory project carried out atSCA in 2008. Altogether 91 lodgepole pine stands in northern Sweden were measured afterthe first thinning.

Författarna har haft ett samarbete med Panduro Hobby i samband med deras årliga miljökampanj. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att med hjälp av befintliga produktutvecklingsprocesser och livscykelanalyser (LCA) ta fram en hållbar textil produkt med växtfärgning. Tanken var att konsumenter sedan själva skall kunna ta fram och växtfärga denna hållbara textilprodukt. Miljömedvetenhet och hållbarhet inom textilindustrin är ett aktuellt ämne. Trots det saknar dagens konsumenter förståelse för textilindustrins påverkan på miljön och har bristande kunskap om textila material för att kunna göra miljövänliga val ute i handeln.

Den höga konkurrensen mellan företag gör det allt viktigare att ligga i framkant med enmodern och teknisk utveckling. Detta driver företag att fokusera på InnovationManagement genom att utveckla metoder för att mer effektivt kunna dra nytta avpersonalens kreativitet och engagemang. Detta är nödvändigt för att bibehålla enkontinuerlig och hållbar utveckling.Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse över hur företag får in tekniska idéer frånde anställda och hur dessa idéer utvärderas. Studien påbörjades med att få engrundläggande förståelse av begreppet innovation. Detta följdes av en fallstudie påföretaget ABB Capacitors med intervjuer och en enkätundersökning som utvärderadesgenom en statistisk analys.

Ledinflammation är ett vanligt problem som orsakar smärta och nedsatt användbarhet hos häst. Intraartikulär behandling med glukokortikoider anses vara ett effektivt sätt att komma tillrätta med smärtan och inflammationen. Vid behandling av ledinflammation är det även önskvärt att främja ledbroskets funktion och det råder delade meningar kring vad glukokortikoider har för effekt på ledbrosk. Det finns tre föreningar (betametasonacetat/ betametasondinatriumfosfat, triamcinolonacetonid och metylprednisolonacetat) som är vanliga vid intraartikulär behandling av ledinflammation med glukokortikoider hos häst i Sverige. Litteraturstudiens syfte var att utvärdera huruvida det finns skadliga effekter på ledbrosk av dessa glukokortikoider i rekommenderade doser och i sådana fall om effekterna skiljer sig åt mellan föreningarna.Betametasonacetat/betametasondinatriumfosfat har ej visats påverka brosket negativt om det administreras i inflammerad led, även om de använda doserna överstiger de rekommenderade något.

The public interest in central living in today?s cities has led to an increasing effect of traffic noise pollution, and today 20% of the inhabitants in Sweden suffer from noise a level that exceeds the limits. At the same time the traffic keeps increasing, and recent researches shows that traffic noise pollution and several of today?s most common health issues are connected, for example, reduction of performance, sleeping issues and cardiovascular diseases. For this cause rules, guidelines and environmental goals has been developed, as well as software?s which calculates the levels of pollution, all this to investigate and improve the environment.

Mot bakgrund av att asexualitet på senare år formulerats som en möjlig sexuell identitet, orientering eller preferens är syftet med uppsatsen att teoretisera den asexuella positionen ? här definierat som ?frånvaro av lust till sexuell praktik?. Detta görs genom en nära läsning av fyra texter som varit centrala inom feministisk och queer teoribildning, med intentionen att undersöka hur asexualitet positioneras i relation till dessa teorier. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna hämtas från feministiska och konstruktivistiska teorier om kön, sexualitet, makt och subjektstatus, främst Michel Foucault (1976)och Judith Butler (1990). Mina läsningar visar att i Gayle Rubins sexuella värdehierarki (1984) tilldelas positioner utifrån sexuellt aktörskap, och det är således sexuella subjekt som kan emanciperas.