The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Earnings Management (EM) and certain characteristics of management forecasts, among a sample of Swedish listed companies. The forecast characteristics studied are: 1) Forecast venue: How explicitly is the forecast presented? 2) Forecast precision: How detailed is the estimated number? 3) Forecast measure: Which measure(s) are forecasted? We use a sample of 68 annual management forecasts, obtained from year-end reports between the years 2007-2011. EM during the forecasted year (2008-2012) is estimated using the cross-sectional modified-Jones model. The forecast characteristics are then related to the degree of EM during the forecasted period.

What affects Hiv in South Africa's different provinces? This thesis examines if education, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, and the literacy rate has any relationship with the Hiv prevalence. This is analyzed using theory and data in the form of a simple microeconomic model and an econometric regression analysis based on cross sectional data of the provinces of South Africa. The regression analysis shows that unemployment rate and education have significant effects of the Hiv prevalence in South Africa. The microeconomic model in the thesis indicates that when education is higher, individuals are more aware that the probability of being infected by Hiv is higher when the Hiv prevalence is high.

ABSTRACTThe privatization of pharmacies in Sweden took place in 2009, in part with higher availability of medicines as justification. For a good adherence, the patients needs a good availability of medicines from pharmacies. The aim of the study was that two years after the pharmacy reform study older people?s opinions on drug supply and pharmacy services, and which pharmacy chains they know about and use. The method used was a quantitative cross-sectional study and was conducted using questionnaires.

Blodtrycksmätning är en viktig del i en sjuksköterskas arbetsuppgifter och då både manuell och digital blodtrycksmätning idag förekommer parallellt inom svensk sjukvård syftar denna studie till att undersöka om det finns någon skillnad mellan de uppmätta resultaten i dessa mätmetoder och beskriva denna eventuella skillnad. Undersökningen genomfördes på en kärlkirurgisk avdelning på ett sjukhus i södra Sverige under hösten 2009. Populationen bestod av 38 inneliggande patienter som följdes upp med totalt 65 blodtrycksmätningar. För att utföra undersökningen tillämpades cross-over design med kvantitativ ansats. Resultaten visade skillnader mellan de två mätmetoderna då den digitala metoden uppmätte högre blodtryck än den manuella. Digital blodtrycksmätning visade genomgående högre mätresultat jämfört med manuell metod.

This thesis deals with the concept of how price affects demand for a good by estimating various price elasticities of demand for snu sold in Sweden. Information was gathered on price development for snus and cigarettes as well as sales data from Swedish Match, the largest supplier of snus in Sweden. Income-, price- and cross-price elasticities were estimated based on log-log regression. Results show that snus is an inelastic good since the coefficient for price of snus was -0.536. This proved that a 1% increase in price causes a 0.536% decrease in quantity demanded.

Inledningsvis belyses generella faktorer som påverkar ansikts- igenkänning. Därefter läggs fokus på cross- race fenomenet, vilken studien syftar till att undersöka. Uppsatsen grundar sig på två hypoteser som båda berör förmågan till igenkänning av ansikten från den egna samt av annan etnisk grupp. I studien deltog två grupper (N = 63), kineser och svenskar som testades med ett bildspel uppdelat i två delar. I instuderingsfasen visades 21 ansikten, med jämn fördelning av asiatiska, afrikanska och europeiska ansikten.

The purpose of this study is to identify and make attitudes among social workers towards homosexual and bisexual people visible, examine how these attitudes relate to their actions in their professional role and how these attitudes and actions can be understood by theories of heteronormativity and power. The study is a cross-sectional quantitative survey in the form of a questionnaire completed by social workers. The result shows that there are two groups among the social workers. One larger group that reproduces a norm of acceptance toward homosexual and bisexual people and one smaller that reproduces a heterosexual norm. This reproduction of heteronormativity increases the risk for homosexual and bisexual people to be made invisible and treated more negatively in contact with social workers, which in turn can lead to worse health among the clients..

An alternate reality game, often abbreviated as ARG, is a mix between a game and a crossmedia interactive story using mainly the Internet as a platform. The game is built around the idea of teamwork among its participants. The players cooperate to solve puzzles allowing them to go forward in the story of the game. The marketing element is in different ways included in the story.A few Alternate Reality Games such as The Beast, The Art of the H3ist and The Lost Ring have previously been launched as marketing campaigns. This bachelor thesis aims to examine the possibilities of Alternate Reality Games as an alternative marketing tool for profit-driven companies.

This study is case study of political participation among the Kani tribe from Kuttichal grama panchayat in the Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, India. The study is based on the collected data of 117 people of the Kani tribe living in four different settlements: Pankavu, Mangode-Valippara, Chonampara and Kaithode. The aim of the study is to examine the impact on political participation by different factors, which is done by the use of the quantitative method of cross tables. The study confirms previous studies in its conclusion that high status individuals, defined in terms of education and economic standard, are the group of the highest political participation, when this is defined as being involved in political work and holding a party membership. On the local political scene however, where political participation consists of participation in local assemblies and voluntary work, the impact of the examined variables are very limited.

En ökad handel med Kina har inneburit att fler svenskar arbetar och bor där tillfälligt. Det betyder att det finns intresse att undersöka kulturella skillnader för att underlätta anpassningar vid arbete och fritid. Åtta personer med erfarenhet av att arbeta och leva i Kina intervjuades. Resultatet visade på betydande skillnader i kommunikation, tidsuppfattning, organisation, relationer och socialt beteende. Kommunikationssvårigheter fanns både under arbete och vid fritid vilket berodde på språket i sig samt olika kommunikationsstilar.

The workplace is a good arena for healthy activities because of its ability to reach big target groups. A preventive health care program prevents ill-health and since 2001 Centralsjukhuset Kristianstad has a health care program, ?Främja hälsan?. Leadership is important in the health promotion work when to get the collaborators motivated and involved in the health care program. The aim of the cross-sectional study was to investigate the collaborators opinion about the managers? pedagogical role in the health promotion work at Centralsjukhuset Kristianstad.

I detta examensarbete som har gjorts tillsammans med EAB AB har syftet varit att skapa ettberäkningsprogram, som en applikation i Microsoft Excel. För att dimensionera gavelbalkar istålbyggnader.För att skaffa sig en uppfattning om hur man handberäknar snittkrafterna i en statiskt obestämdbalk, gjordes det en litteraturstudie. Denna ledde till att det valdes olika metoder för att beräknasnittkrafterna, bland annat valdes Cross-metod för att beräkna momentet i stöden.Beräkningarna av snittkrafterna gjordes i alla balkens stöd. Under dimensioneringsprocessengjordes bland annat interaktionskontroller mellan moment och normalkraft i varje stöd. Dettagjordes för att få en så noggrann dimensionering som möjligt.

The harmonization within EC Company Law has been relativley successful. Despite its relative success; important differences still remains in European company law.The freedom of establishment itself, and the ECJ?s interpretation of the freedom provides European companies with a substantial cross-border mobility. As a consequence of this mobility, together with the differences in national legislation; mandatory rules in company law can be easily evaded. A typical example of this is that a Swedish enterprise, by running their business through a British private limited company, can escape the Swedish legislation on capital contributions when forming a company with limited liability for its members.

The aim of this study was to investigate which attitudes young men and women at gym have to doping and supplements in Gästrikland. Method: This study is based on a cross sectional study design where a quantitative approach was used by 60 questionnaires which were distributed at different gyms in Gästrikland. Result: It was found that the majority had a relative negative attitude to doping, those who used supplements had a slightly more positive attitude to some of the statements compared with those who did not use supplements. Overall, the results showed a positive attitude to supplements. Compared with previous studies, it was found in the study that a smaller proportion didn?t agree that it is up to each one to use doping substances.

The number of elderly continues to increase in Sweden which puts pressure on the elderly care. Aproposed solution is to increase the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) inhome care to both streamline care and enable older people to manage on their own to a greaterextent. So far Västerås is the only municipality that has made a decision on an ICT solution, whichthey have chosen to call ?eHemtjänst? (eHomecare). The purpose of this paper was to investigatethe specific prerequisites and requirements for Gothenburg city regarding the potentialimplementation of eHemtjänst.