This paper replicates a test performed by Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), which identifies a kink in the frequency distribution of earnings for companies listed on American stock exchanges. Their claim, that the kink is evidence of earnings management, has however been dismissed as a methodical consequence. To address this concern, this paper not only replicates the test in general, but also performs tests on a split sample, where founding family-owned companies are separated from the others, since earlier research has shown that founding family ownership is correlated with less earnings management. The results are in line with the findings of Burgstahler and Dichev, with a significant kink in the frequency distribution in the general test. The findings also show that the significance of the kink increases in the non-family-owned sample, while it disappears in the family-owned sample.

The main topic of this thesis is to evaluate the impact on the usability of web pages when using responsive web design, a concept for developing web pages whose design adapts to the screen size being used. This is done by creating a responsive prototype based on an existing web site. A number of usability tests are conducted on the two versions of the site in order to compare the time to complete the tests and to observe the behaviour of the test participants. The tests are conducted on desktop as well as on mobile devices with varying screen size.The number of test participants was relatively low, and so the quantitative result is not statistically valid. However, the conclusion is that the most effective combination is to use either of the sites on desktop format.

The world is changing and the business context is no exception. One of the clearest tendencies is a tougher business climate with harder competition due to increased international trade and the expansion of the e-business. At the same time the customers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. The last decades have also meant that tougher and more frequent demands are being aimed at the businesses from a wider variety of stakeholders; demands regarding how environmental issues, social responsibilities and business ethics should be dealt with. All of the above have driven companies towards implementation of different management systems to be able to cope with the demands as well as to ensure that these issues are being dealt with in an efficient and effective manner.

Volvo Human Monitoring (VHM) is an ongoing project at Volvo Cars where they measure, amongst other parameters, inhalation and exhalation through a device called Respiratory Inductance Plethysmograph (RIP), on drivers. RIP measures changes in the cross-sectional area of the chest and abdomen. When the driver is in motion, such as when she is turning the vehicle, the cross-sectional area changes and noise in the RIP signal may arise.The noise results in a large number of manual adjustments in the analysis of the RIP signal, which is very time consuming and the validity of the device for measuring inhalation and exhalation is questioned.The purpose of this study was to improve the efficiency of the analysis of the RIP signal. The goal was to create a new data processing tool in Matlab that automatically detects inhalation and exhalation from a RIP signal with higher validity compared to the previous data processing tool.In this study, nine tests were performed on drivers while they were driving in different scenarios such as highway, country road and in city traffic. Inhalation and exhalation was measured using a RIP, a pneumotachograph with a tightly sealed facemask and a thermocouple placed between the nose and mouth, which was used as reference to the RIP.The result of this study was a data processing tool that automatically detects inhalation and exhalation with higher validity compared to the previous data processing tool.

Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet i den här studien har varit att undersöka hur fysiologiska och upplevelsebaserade variabler skiljer sig vid känd, okänd och oväntad arbetstid samt i förhållande till mentala färdigheter. För att uppnå syftet undersöktes följande frågor. Hur påverkas fysiologiska och upplevelsebaserade variabler vid känd, okänd och oväntad arbetstid? Vilket samband finns det mellan mentala färdigheter och de fysiologiska respektive upplevelsebaserade variablerna?Metod: Avsikten är att upprepa tidigare studier men med nya parametrar. Testpersonerna var uthållighetstränade (57,1 ml/kg/min ±3,7SD) män med en medelålder på 37 år (±3,8SD).

The enterprises of today are beginning to realize that environmental issues are a important part of their activity. Companies and organizations are expected to a greater extent communicate their environmental work to the world surrounding them in a trustworthy and structured way. Lack of information or information that is incorrect may bring farreaching consequences. Communication is mentioned in several of the ISO 14001-standards. But what is missing is a guideline how companies should act to create and be sure of the quality of the data that can be used in the environmental communication.

Idrottsrörelsen är den största och mest livskraftiga folkrörelsen i Sverige. Prestationsförmågan och kraven har ökat inom idrotten och det pågår en ständig jakt efter nya talanger. Många, oavsett idrott, tränar väldigt mycket och på ett likartat sätt, men får sällan någon feedback på träningseffekten. Fysprofilen kan hjälpa till att optimera och styra träningen rätt genom att identifiera varje individs fysiska förmåga. Löp- och snabbhetskraven i lagsporter karaktäriseras mer av riktningsförändringar än av löpning rakt fram.

The smartphone is part of our daily life. Smartphone users type on a screen area that is no larger than the palm of a hand. To help with this endeavor the software known as AutoCorrect was created. However little is known about how AutoCorrect actually change the language and if AutoCorrect users at all perceive the impact it has. This study aims to find out if our test subjects are aware of AutoCorrect?s presence and how much it influences them.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate the clinical application to use ASSR in anesthetized childrenDesignOne main ambition of the investigation was to compare hearing threshold using ABR with estimated hearing threshold using ASSR. Another aim was to examine if the duration of an ASSR measurement could be reduced by only using the frequencies 1, 2 and 4 kHz and exclude the frequency 0.5 kHz. This is a retrospective study using electrophysiological measurement from a database.ResultResults showed a high correlation between hearing threshold using ABR and estimated thresholds using ASSR, with the frequency 0.5 kHz showing a slightly lower correlation. Result also showed that the test duration was increased when using all test frequencies in ASSR-measurement compared to when 0.5kHz was excluded. ConclusionThe study showed a high correlation when comparing hearing threshold using ABR and ASSR.

The exhaust arrangement on a Scania V8 consists of one manifold at each bank connected to a twin entry turbine (8-2-2). A study in GT-Power has shown improved performance and reduced cylinder to cylinder variations using two manifolds at each bank in combination with a single entry turbine (8-4-1). This thesis work analyses the difference in performance shown in simulation and verify it by engine test.The initial work was focused on simulation in GT-Power. Investigating how exhaust manifold volume and pulses effects the turbine efficiency and the mean effective pressure during the gas exchange. To verify GT-Power simulations four engine tests with different exhaust arrangement have been made.The results from GT-Power simulation indicate that a larger exhaust volume improve the turbine efficiency.

Formulation and testing of a new type of chainsaw lubricantThe company Agro Oil has come up with the idea of developing an environmentally adapted chainsaw lubricant with a new unusual base fluid. A field test with a tree-harvester shows unsatisfactory low temperature properties and high wear. In this work the viscosity, price and pour point of different combinations of the given base fluid and three other base fluids have been investigated. Desired viscosity and price are determined for different formulations. The new lubricants tested show lower pour points than almost all products on the Swedish market.A test equipment has been developed to investigate the wear.

The Anybus CompactCom modules are today using the Anybus NP30 processor. These modules are used for communication between industrial machines and larger network protocols. The communication loads on these systems are increasing every day and the limiting factor for the system is the processor.HMS, the company that develops the Anybus CompactCom, has shown interest for a benchmark test between the old processor and a new processor, ARM Cortex-M3. This project includes that benchmark. To be able to get results that reflect reality a test environment was created to simulate Anybus CompactCom conditions.

BAKGRUND: I andra delar av världen testas den fysiska kapaciteten hos yrkesverksamma poliser regelbundet. I Sverige finns inga tester eller krav på fysisk kapacitet på yrkesverksamma poliser efter genomförd grundutbildning. SYFTE: Att undersöka den fysiska kapaciteten hos poliser i yttre tjänst i Norrbottens polisdistrikt, för att påvisa om det finns ett behov av åtgärder för att upprätthålla yrkesaktiva polisers fysiska kapacitet. METOD: Förfrågan om frivilligt deltagande från poliser i yttre tjänst gjordes till delar ur Norrbottens polisdistrikt. Coopers test 2000 m och Harres test, vilka Polishögskolan använder i rekryteringsprocessen, valdes som mätmetoder.

Swedish students' knowledge of both mathematics and reading comprehension has deteriorated in recent years. Scientists are discussing whether there is a connection between these areas and that the pupils deteriorating math skills may have something to do with their increasingly lower results in terms of reading comprehension. To investigate this possible connection, I conducted a survey among students in ninth grade and have come to the conclusion that the scientists are right: this connection absolutely exist. Students who received a high score on tasks designed to test students' mathematical problem-solving skills, also received high results on the reading comprehension test. And students who received a poor performance on the problem-solving tasks, were also low performers in the reading comprehension test.

In order to evaluate the benefits and costs associated to investments in information technology (IT) managers need to be aware of the complexity in the nature of the task. Hence all the benefits that arise from the investment are not of pure economic character. The complexity of the task is even more obvious when managers also need to prioritize between a number of possible investments in order to fit a given budget.Stora Enso Skog AB is about to implement a new administration system to the organisation and due to that they will also implement a new standard system for the production planning process. In order to seek the modifications in the standard system that needs to be done to fit the organisations way of working, the managers have put together a reference group to seek out these modifications.The aim with this report is to identify a model that can prioritize these suggested modifications and test it practically with a group of future system users. The first part of the report is a literature study to map the existing models that are available.