Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

Under början av 1990-talet inledde Volvo Personvagnar i Olofström en process där övervakning av robotiserad MIG/MAG-svetsning var i fokus. Det ledde fram till ett forskningsprojekt som resulterade i att Stefan Adolfsson, Lunds tekniska högskola/Blekinge tekniska högskola, 1998 presenterade avhandlingen Automatic Quality Monitoring in GMA Welding using Signal Processing Methods [5]. I den presenterades ett SPRT-baserat övervakningskoncept för övervakning av MIG/MAG-svetsning med kort- och spraybåge. För att få fram ett kostnadseffektivt övervakningssystem uppkom tanken att använda vanliga PC-datorer som plattform. De erbjuder hög beräkningskapacitet till förhållandevis låg kostnad.

During recent years, financial innovation has given rise to numerous structured investment opportunities aimed towards the general public. These have enabled private investors to engage in high-risk investments offering as much as 400 per cent leverage while oftentimes not fully having grasped the risk involved. The issuers of these securities have been criticized for using advertising of a too aggressive and misleading nature.By presenting 819 potential investors with two different investment opportunities yielding the same return over a six day period, we have aimed to assess whether the inclination of being affected by judegmental heuristics varies with factors such as knowledge, overall attitude towards the asset class, risk appetite and experience from previous investments.We have observed that investors' perception of the attractiveness of an investment can be distorted by altering the information presented to the investor. However, our findings show that this tendency decreases with an increased level of knowledge, experience and risk appetite..

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze four educators? views and experiences of working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in relation to the concept of "One school for all". Research has shown that a segregating perspective is dominant in the school system, but the education act says that all children have a right to an equal education.My starting point for this study has been the concept of term "One school for all" and the problems that can occur in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. A school for all is a school where all children are welcome and where all children sees as equals regardless of what background or disability they have. This study will be important for newly graduated teachers who are not aware of Autism Spectrum disorders.

The purpose with this study is to investigate funds that are environmentally friendly. Environment issues has become a large subject that affects all aspects in today?s society.  It is a global issue which has affected the awareness of environmentally friendly products and its benefits for the environment.How has this awareness affected the financial market?  In this study the authors have looked at six environmentally sound funds and six energy funds to answer the question if it´s better to have your money in traditional energy or in renewable energy.This study is made in an quantitative way, the data has been gathered from the internet database Morningstar. The energy funds have had its biggest assets in companies dealing with oil, and the environmentally sound funds have had its biggest assets in renewable energy. Bye looking at the different funds rate of return and relating that to risk managing theories of Sharpe and Treynor, the authors compared the two types of funds.During the period that was looked at during this study ( third quarter of 2007 until third quarter 2010) the energy funds outperformed the environmentally sound funds in every aspect. .

Since Africa?s decolonization a number of foreign economic actors have begun toemerge in several African countries and they prove a vital role in many ways. China isone of the largest actor and they have a long history of political and economic ties withAfrica. China act primarily in Africa to meet their growing economy?s demand fornatural resources, and by providing aid and trade with development countries in Africathey get important natural resources like oil and iron ore in return.

AbstractMaster thesis in Business Administration, School of Business and Economics at Linneaus UniversityAuthors: Patrik Larsson and Pontus GislénSupervisor: Håkan LockingExaminer: Sven-Olof CollinTitle: The index effect- a study on Nasdaq OMXS30 and OMXH25Introduction: A significant part of the financial literature is based on the Efficient Market Hypothesis which assumes that prices in the market reflects all available information. Anomalies, such as the index effect, indicate weaknesses in this theory as it has been proved that it is possible to outperform the market using public information. Hence, the index effect can be linked to market efficiency which makes it interesting to study from a theoretical perspective. The mapping of the index effect is also interesting from a practical perspective, as it leads to a better understanding of whether investors and firms should take this anomaly into account.Problem: Is there an index effect, how does it behave and what can explain this effect?Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the index effect.

This paper is intended to provide a picture of which associations water can wake in the human mind from the perspectives of garden history as well as from that of environmental psychology. I hope to paint a fairly broad picture of our perception of water that can serve as a basis for discussion and as a starting point for different forms of design work in landscape architecture. The historical perspective emphasizes the importance of water as a condition for the emergence of gardens and in a wider perspective the importance of water in early cultures. Also, I describe a picture of how water has been used throughout the history of gardens from early Egypt to the baroque era. The garden history analyzed from an art historical perspective gives a picture of human associations to water, and the history behind these associations is presented. As a compliment to the art history approach, I have chosen to highlight our associations with water from the perspectives of environmental psychology and evolutionary science.

Hyresbostadsfonder är en ny placeringsform i Sverige som erbjuder privatpersoner, företag och institutioner att äga hyresfastigheter och erhålla avkastning från förvaltningsöverskott och värdeökning. I denna studie jämförs aktie- och obligationsfonder med en simulerad hyresbostadsfond ur ett risk kontra avkastningsperspektiv. Fonden baseras på data över den svenska fastighetsmarknaden från Svenskt Fastighetsindex och Investment Property Database, därför att placeringsformen är ny och det råder brist på historisk data från verkliga aktörer.Målet med studien är att besvara om hyresbostadsfonder är ett konkurrenskraftigt alternativ till aktie- och obligationsfonder. Utöver finansiella jämförelser redogör författarna eventuella dolda risker och nackdelar med placeringsformen.Resultatet från studien visar att hyresbostadsfonden har presterat bättre än både aktie- och obligationsfonderna under perioden 1988-2008. Bidragande faktorer till denna utveckling har identifierats och redovisats.

The purpose of the following essay is to analyze how the Swedish regional policy has been influenced by the regional policy in the EU. The study builds on the theoretical framework that is Europeanization, the top-down approach, which stipulates where you can find evidence of this influence. To obtain the information that I needed to answer my question formulations, which main question formulation are; in which way has the EU regional policy influenced the Swedish regional policy? I used the method of literature analysis. Both the theoretical framework alongside the chosen method pointed me to analyze the public debate in Sweden in the regional question.

Bakgrund: Det rådande pensionssystemet i Sverige består av sex så kallade AP-fonder. Genom åren har pensionssystemet flertalet gånger kritiserats för dess låga avkastning.Problem: Vår huvudfråga är att jämföra AP-fondernas risk och avkastning med aktiemarknaden som helhet, detta ska ske med hjälp av två jämförelseindex: MSCI World och SIXRX.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att jämföra de fyra första AP-fondernas risk och avkastning med aktiemarknaden som helhet under åren 2002-2010.Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvantitativ metod, genom att samla in information från AP-fondernas årsredovisningar och hemsidor. Vi har samlat in historisk data, som vi sedan har bearbetat och analyserat.Slutsats: De studerade AP-fonderna har presterat sämre än aktiemarknaden..

Background: Folate is a water - soluble vitamin necessary for normal DNA synthesis among  other mechanisms. Folate deficiency can cause megaloblastic anemia resulting from abnormal erythrocyte d evelopment. At the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Linköping, analysis of folate is performed with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP which uses an immunochemical method with chemiluminimetric detection. Currently, the assay is conducted on serum, is poured off and frozen after 48 h and treated with light protection because folate is considered to be light sensitive.Methods: This study tested lithium heparin plasma for analysis of folate with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP with the aim to be able to perform a package of analyzes in anemia investigation from the same collection tube. Furthermore, the stability of folate was studied for up to 168 h and examined regarding light sensitivity.Results: Statistically significant higher values were obtained in the analysis of folate in lithium heparin plasma than folate in serum (p < 0,001).

The Swedish energy company Vattenfall is currently the owner of the district heatingsystems in Nyköping and Motala. To be able to also offer cooling solutions tocustomers are becoming more and more important. This report describes the resultsof an investigation of the cooling market in the two cities and the potential needs forcooling today and in the coming 20 years. The total potential for the coming 20 yearsis estimated to be roughly 17 MW for Nyköping and 9 MW for Motala.Two possible district cooling systems for each of the two city centers was modeledand a comparison was made between different cooling techniques namely absorptionand compressor chillers.Absorption chillers driven with district heating during the summer is one way ofincreasing the load in a combined heat and power plant and thereby the possibleelectricity generation. The cost of heat production must be low for absorption chillerto be able to compete as an alternative.

Under början av 1990-talet inledde Volvo Personvagnar i Olofström en process där övervakning av robotiserad MIG/MAG-svetsning var i fokus. Det ledde fram till ett forskningsprojekt som resulterade i att Stefan Adolfsson, Lunds tekniska högskola/Blekinge tekniska högskola, 1998 presenterade avhandlingen Automatic Quality Monitoring in GMA Welding using Signal Processing Methods [5]. I den presenterades ett SPRT-baserat övervakningskoncept för övervakning av MIG/MAG-svetsning med kort- och spraybåge. För att få fram ett kostnadseffektivt övervakningssystem uppkom tanken att använda vanliga PC-datorer som plattform. De erbjuder hög beräkningskapacitet till förhållandevis låg kostnad. Examensarbetets mål är att implementera det SPRT-baserade övervakningskonceptet i LabVIEW på en PC och utvärdera realtidsegenskaperna.