In this essay, I research and discuss new spirituality (or what is commonly known as New Age) within some congregations in the Church of Sweden, Gothenburg. I question how and why this new spirituality has come to be accepted in parts of the Church. My hypothesis is that the church is a part, and a reflection, of a larger change throughout society, and I claim that this change depends much on the individualization and globalization during the last decades.The research is conducted through interviews with representatives from the Church ofSweden who are in charge of new religious activities. During these interviews we discuss their views on the change that has already taken place and is going on today.The interviews are then analyzed by applying rational choice theory on them. I discusswhether the Church can be seen as a producer of goods and services and if the churchgoers canbe seen as consumers of these goods and services.

In the two years 1994 and 2013 the focus of the Swedish media in the school debate has been on segregation, freedom of choice, and support for weak students. In 2013 while the media was still united on the above issues the overall emphasis is on profitability. In 1994 the focus was more on weak students who in 2013 are considered unprofitable.The purpose of this essay is to study the Swedish media and their debate on Swedish schools and witch concepts related to "one school that fits all" in the year 1994 and also in 2013.We have analysed related articles and their concepts, norms, and values to see if there are any differences between their focus on the said issues in the two years.We have also studied the ideas and concepts that came under scrutiny and discussion in these two years, and shall investigate if there are differences in the debates conducted in 1994 and those conducted in 2013..

This thesis aims to develop proposals and models for a modular electronics construction to a future D250S Dual battery charger. The aim also includes investigation of possibilities to use some of Texas Instruments C2000 microprocessors. The reason for this is that CTEK SWEDEN AB wants to renew the present D250S Dual battery charger and lower the manufacturing costs. The thesis work has involved gathering theoretical facts for the development of a design on the modular electronic construction, the choice on which microprocessor to use, the choice of electronic components and facts about peripheral equipment to the D250S Dual. With the theoretical there has been developed different solutions to the proposed hardware and software solutions with comparisons in aspects of positive and negative.

Background: The consumers of today have the possibility to choose from a wide range of products and services. Consequently, the ability to differentiate the products is essential for the brand owners. If a brand owner does not manage to differentiate its product, it can be difficult to make the consumers realise the benefits of the product and convince them to buy it. One way to differentiate the product is to create a distinguished brand identity. However, it is not enough to create a strong brand identity, the brand owner must also be capable of communicating the brand identity successfully.

Pets like dogs and cats have a considerable importance for humans and research demonstrate a variety of positive economic and social effects in society due to our pet companions. The presences of pets are increasing on a global scale with correlation to economic development in low- and middle income countries. For example dogs have doubled in India over a five year period. The feed industry for dogs and cats is also the fastest growing sector in the food industry and certain pets have a significant animal protein intake which, depending on the choice of resources may provide a high ecological footprint. Examples of environmental effects with distribution and manufacturing of pet food are increased greenhouse gas emissions, waste, use of water and energy.

Background The stocksaving has during the last century increased and become more popular in Sweden and during the last 20 years the number of Swedes who save in stocks has more than doubled. While the interest in stocksaving has increased so has the interest in private saving. Today there is a group of people who live of the income which is generated from the stockmarket, they are called ?Daytraders? and they do ?Daytrading?.  They constantly observe the stockmarket and act as soon as new information that can affect the stockrate is revealed.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether abnormal stock returns could be identified as a result of a layoff announcement during weak economy.Method: An event study methodology.Theory: Efficient market hypothesis, signal theory.Empirical results: Quantitative data from observations of stock prices in thirty two companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, in the period 2008 -2012.Conclusion: The results indicate that the market reaction was negative because there were negative abnormal returns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2008-2012 in connection with the layoff announcements. The market reaction was milder when staff reductions were carried out as a result of a restructuring and stronger when staff reductions were carried out as part of a cost reduction program.The layoff announcements elicited different market reactions depending on the company's industry affiliation. The most negative reaction was in the Healthcare industry. Negative abnormal returns were lower in industries Industrials, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods. There were no abnormal returns for shares of companies in the industry Financials.

The average length of life is increasing in the western world, hence the older population is growing. A common health problem among the elderly is malnutrition. Malnutrition causes decreased body strength and is associated with an amplified risk of infections, depression, fractures and increased mortality. The health care system is therefore faced with the challenge to prevent malnutrition among the growing population of elderly. This could be done by providing nutritious foods developed to meet the specific needs of elderly. The overall objective of this project was to test a healthy energy dense drink based on oats targeted for the elderly consumers as a strategy to prevent malnutrition among elderly.

Studien syftar till att sätta den svenska skolan i ett marknadsperspektiv och ställer frågan om en eventuell marknadsanpassning av skolväsendet lett till ett närmande mellan offentligt ägda och privat ägda skolor. Tio gymnasieskolorsInternetbaserade marknadsföring från fem kommuner, i syfte att vara representativt för hela Sverige, undersöks. Resultatet visar att politiska omstruktureringar ökat marknadsinslaget i den svenska skolan, särskilt tydligt genom den ?peng? som följer till de gymnasieskolor som aktivt väljs av elever, en summa som går förlorad för de skolor som väljs av färre elever. Resultaten visar ytterligare att det är via reklam denna tävlan sker ? något som inte skiljer offentligt ägda eller privat ägda skolor åt.

Purpose: The purpose with this empirical study is to investigate how many companies have chosen to apply the K2 framework and see why the remaining companies have chosen not to.Methodology: A choice of a quantitative approach has been applied to collect information and create a foundation for the problem. Furthermore a qualitative approach has been selected to cover the remains.Theoretical perspective: This section contains a presentation of the agency theory, the institutional theory, the k-project and a comparison of K2 and the existing regulation.Results: Three out of 143 companies applies BFNAR 2008:1. 13 out of 143 companies use self-generated intangible fixed assets. Out of 29 contacted companies only three know about K2. The 29 companies are from various lines of business within an area.Conclusion: The conclusion of our research is that the majority of the companies did not reject to use the K2 regulations.

This essay studies how advertisements in various anti-smoking campaigns can influence and persuade by using anti-logos as counter-arguments to the tobacco industry's logos. In contrast to tobacco advertising arguments such as freedom (logos), pleasure (pathos) and trademark (ethos) the anti-smoking campaigns create anti-logos arguments with various connotations such as repulsive pictures and sexual implications to influence groups of people not to start smoking or to quit smoking.Advertisement of tobacco does not exist nowadays due to legal restrictions in the western world; however several decades of myths created in the consumer consciousness still exist. Thus one can speak of a tobacco advertising ideology that exists and the various anti-smoking campaigns trying to change that ideology.The purpose of anti-smoking campaigns is to conduct a kategoria of myth that tobacco advertisement has created over the years. Anti smoking organizations do this by creating a new ideology to affect consumer?s attitude toward smoking and the tobacco myth with an anti-myth.

Shoplifting is a serious problem due to the fact that about 2 % of a retail store's turnaround dis-appears annually. This paper discusses the problem with shoplifting where a closed retail display of glass can prevent this kind of misbehavior. Hitherto the scientific research regarding how consumers react to a closed retail display is non-existing. With this in mind we want to investigate and enlighten the phenomenon regarding consumer behavior and product appreciation. The study is carried out at a retailer in the beauty industry in Sweden both in stores where the selection of perfumes have been displayed behind glass and in stores in which they have been displayed with open access.

Endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) are found in many everyday products and can cause adverse effects on human health. Small children are particularly sensitive to EDCs and they are also exposed to them in a greater extent than adults. Despite this, EDCs are only banned in a few toys and childcare products. There are many sources of exposure and if no steps are taken to reduce the incidence of EDCs we may face an increasing number of people diagnosed with obesity, diabetes type 2 or various types of cancer.The Swedish Government has set a number of environmental objectives, one of which is calleda non-toxic environment. The Swedish Chemicals Agency was instructed to produce and conduct a national action plan to achieve this goal.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how the two Swedish municipalities, Sigtuna and Nyköping, work with marketing. The study has primarily focused on how these two municipalities worked, consciously or non-consciously, with lifestyle marketing and place marketing. The research-questions that this essay wants to answer are;What is lifestyle marketing and place marketing?Do municipalities use these types of marketing, and who is this marketing directed to?How and why does municipalities use lifestyle marketing and place marketing?To answer these questions, phone interviews were conducted with several important employees within the two municipalities. The results of this study show that the different municipalities have both been using lifestyle marketing, but on different levels, in Sigtuna, it was a strategic choice, whereas in Nyköping, it evolved by itself and was not a conscious choice.

The thesis deals with evaluation of tenders for communal construction procurement. Each year the public procurement equals the value of millions of Swedish kronors, of which construction projects makes up a large proportion. These projects tend to often exceed their budgets. The aim with the thesis is to investigate if there are faults in the tender evaluation process. The theoretical framework for the study partly consists of a review on how the communal evaluation work is described in law and practice.