Title: Competition for small audit firms ? a qualitative study on possible competitive strategies and how the upcoming changes will influence competition on the audit market    Subject: Auditing Tutor: Margareta Paulsson  Authors: Per Dahlström and Martin Holmberg Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding how smaller auditing firms use competitive strategies and why. The result aims to work as a support for owners and leaders of audit firms as they make decisions of how to compete in the future. We would also like to explore how smaller audit firms view the change of the mandatory audit, that is, our intentions are also to examine how they think the consequences on the market will be and their view on its affect on the competition of the market.    Methodology: Our methodological approach was characterized by a hermeneutic approach in order to explain and understand why the smaller audit firms do what they do. Our approach is a combination of inductive and deductive as it allows us to develop an understanding of the subject, then gather our empirical data and from that draw valid conclusions.

The climate changes that are occuring in the world have resulted in that the EU callingfor a 20 % reduction in energy consumption to the year 2020, to reach that goal theEU want the public sector to go forth as a good example. Västfastigheter owns andmanage the hospital buildings in the Västra Götaland region. To be able to reducetheir energy usage Västfastigheter has hired several consulting firms to chart out theenergy consumption on each hospital building. The biggest energy savings potentialhave been calculated and what the cost will be to perform each action. The energyaudit have been completed and stand as the decision basis for Västfastigheter?s choiceon which action packages that should be implemented.

The aim of this paper is to describe how to measure welfare effect of the deregulation and increased competition of the public transport by railway in Sweden. The paper also includes a numerical example of how to measure the welfare effect. In our study we use public data from SJ regaring quantity and ticket prices for the period 1996 - 2005. We have used equivalent variation, EV, as the method to measure the welfare effect. We demonstrate how to derive the equation to calculate EV by starting with a Marschallian demand function.

Idag väljer många företag och kommuner att placera data i molnet istället för på en lokal server, detta medför nya problem som tidigare inte varit aktuella. Datainspektionen har påpekat brister i hur två kommuner använder molntjänster för att lagra personlig data då de ställer sig tveksamma till molnleverantörernas hantering av data samt insynen till molnleverantörerena. I detta arbete kommer det undersökas hur den svenska personuppgiftslagen fungerar när data läggs ut i en molntjänst. Resultatet av uppsatsen kommer även visa på de olika säkerhetshoten som finns i molnet och se vad säkerhetsexperter säger för att ta reda på om kommuner och företag är medvetna om och uppmärksammar samma hot. För att ta reda på detta har intervjuer genomförts med en svensk molnleverantör, företag som utvecklar tjänster mot molnet, privatpersoner som nyttjar molnet och experter inom säkerhet från Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, BTH.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility to make small, cheap and ultra low power sensor platforms, connected in wireless networks for monitoring of home and industrial environments. The concept is based on ideas from our supervisor, Jerry Lindblom. The developed system consists of a generic platform for different sensors, a receiver and software. A GPRS module from RO Rollytech AB and a database from Gema Industri AB have been modified and used to demonstrate an example of a complete system. To the platform, it is possible to connect any resistive sensor and any sensor that can act as a switch.

This paper describes the development of a simulation model for the ambulance flow in the Västra Götalands-region of Sweden, and an analysis tool for the output of the simulation model. The aim of the simulation model was to be able to evaluate the outcome from changes in the ambulance operations, such as a reorganization of ambulances or an increase in intensity of the ambulance calls. This evaluation is meant to serve as decision support for the strategic planning of the ambulance operations. The analysis tool was developed to visualize the abundant geographical data produced by the simulation model in a meaningful way. The simulation model was validated against historical data which showed that the dispatch time for the highest prioritized ambulance calls corresponds well with historical data.

Det här examensarbetet undersöker hur en databaslösning kan utformas för simuleringsbaserad ruttoptimering. Då det finns få relaterade arbeten inom ämnet syftar detta arbete till att undersöka hur en lämplig databaslösning kan utformas och ge riktlinjer för detta. Databaslösningen innefattar både lagring av data samt åtkomst och hantering av data. Då simuleringsbaserad optimering ofta är avancerad innebär detta att en stor och komplex mängd data måste hanteras. Simulator och optimerare använder denna data under själva optimeringsprocessen, vilket ställer krav på effektivitet och snabb åtkomst. Arbetet är inriktat på ett praktiskt problem där sophantering av containrar simuleras och optimeras.

This report deals with life-history variation for Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis L.), with special emphasis on age and size at maturity in females, in perch populations that have changed in size distribution. The collection of fish samples was made with multimesh gill nets year 2011. The perch?s length, height, weight, status of gonads has been analyzed, and by observing the opercular bone the age has been determined. In two lakes close to Umeå in northern Sweden, Fisksjön and Ängersjön, the live-history traits of perch have been studied.

Background: During the last decade climbing has become more popular and the numbers of climbers in Sweden have increased considerably. Most common are overuse injuries caused by the great stress and strain climbing creates on different parts of the body. Previous studies show that 75-90% of climbing injuries are localised in the upper extremity. Injuries affecting the lower extremity occur often acute and traumatic. Based on these facts and that the number of climbers constantly grows, it is more likely that the need of care from physiotherapist among climbers will increase.

One year Master's thesis, Degree of master in Business and Economics, School ofBusiness and Economics at Linnaeus University, Management, 4FE10E SpringSemester 2014.Author: Johanna Björklund and Sarah Gustafsson.Mentor: Magnus Forslund.Title: Lean in the public sector - Potential barriers to a long-term Lean work.Background: Organizational changes are something that is constantly done inorganizations, and in the last decade, there has arisen a plethora of different changemodels. A reorganization that is popular among companies today is Lean. Lean is aconcept that was developed within the Japanese automotive industry, but has evolvedfrom the Japanese shop floor and is now a concept that can be found in, for example,several Swedish municipalities.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to create an understanding of why the conceptLean may have difficulty getting a hold in the in the long term.Methodology: The study was done with a qualitative research approach and through anabductive approach. As we intended to create an understanding, of what potentialbarriers that may affect that a Lean work, in some cases, does not become a long-termcondition, it seemed natural to choose a hermeneutic approach to knowledge. Theempirical data collected via individual unstructured interviews, through a groupinterview, and by non-participant observations.

The climate changes that are occuring in the world have resulted in that the EU callingfor a 20 % reduction in energy consumption to the year 2020, to reach that goal theEU want the public sector to go forth as a good example. Västfastigheter owns andmanage the hospital buildings in the Västra Götaland region. To be able to reducetheir energy usage Västfastigheter has hired several consulting firms to chart out theenergy consumption on each hospital building. The biggest energy savings potentialhave been calculated and what the cost will be to perform each action. The energyaudit have been completed and stand as the decision basis for Västfastigheter?s choiceon which action packages that should be implemented.

Climate change is expected to lead to increased rainfall and higher temperatures, among other things. This will have a major impact on our cities. Floods can lead to property damage as well as damages to human and animal health. Higher temperatures will increase the frequency of heat-related health risks and premature deaths. The consequences of climate change will be particularly large in our cities because of the city's morphology with a high amount of paved surfaces and buildings that affect the natural processes in areas such as drainage and absorption of solar radiation.

The project is a practical and theoretical test of IP telephony with Skype in order to form a base for a comparison between IP-Telephony with Skype and the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN). PSTN is the common standard that most of us use for telephony today. The objective for the study is to simplify the choice between PSTN and IP-Telephony for the Swedish private customer user group. The project is supposed to answer the following questions. - How easy is it to start using IP-telephony with Skype? - How is the quality of IP-telephony compared to PSTN? - Are all services provided by PSTN available and accessible using the IP-solution? - How are the usability and the availability of support with IP telephony? - Is IP-telephony a cheaper solution and in that case under which circumstances? Within the project a collection of practical and theoretical tests have been performed to be able to form an opinion on the IP-solution in the following areas, installation, function, quality, usability, costs, accessibility and security.

Background:Life-cycle costing (LCC) is an investment calculation that takes intoaccount operating costs throughout the investee lifecycle. LCC calculations are mainly usedto evaluate investments that have no revenue side. Attempts to apply the LCC calculations forbuilding-related investments have occurred since the 1980s. Despite the advantages ofusing LCC calculations, use has not passed through in full. The main obstacles have beenidentified as a lack of relevant input data, and insufficient experience of workingwith LCC calculations.

Nilsson, P. (2005). Which manager qualities can be related to a health promotive leadership? A questionnaire study among managers at hospitals. (41 p.)AbstractPeople?s working life and individual health can be seen as strongly related to each other because people spend the most of their adult lives at their places of work.