Computer programs must give a technical effect that goes beyond"normal physical interaction"to be considered to belong to a technical field. The invention shall be be susceptible of industrial application, which means that it should be possible to reproduce or use in any other industrial way. The reqirement that the invention shall be new means that the technique must not be previously known because of patents, published articles, etc. That an invention shall be a contribution to the state of the art in a technical field means that the invention shall not be obvious to invent for a person skilled in the art. Patents do effect the innovation among the inventers, but in most industries most inventions would be invented independent if there was a patent system or not.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the operation of membership criteria, which are applied against countries that wish to join the European Union (EU). More specifically, the importance of some criteria in comparison to others is considered. To answer this proposal, three questions are posed: What are the EU membership criteria? Are some criteria more important than other criteria? Does the EU treat candidate countries differently in applying the membership criteria? Three countries are used in this analysis, each country representing one recent enlargement round: Poland (2004), Romania (2007), and current candidate country Turkey. Both official documents, such as EU treaties, and unofficial documents such as statements from EU leaders are used to analyze the application of membership criteria.

In order to make take-off and landing procedures possible at an airport, an organized allo- cation of slots is necessary. How these slots shall be distributed among airlines is, at pre- sent, governed by the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 Janu- ary 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. It is important for the air- lines to be allocated a beneficial slot. Hence it is of great interest for the airlines to ex- change and transfer the allocated times among themselves, a form of secondary market. Whether such practices are allowed or not is not regulated by specific detail in the regula- tion, which leads to legal uncertainty.

The European Union's work on equal opportunities for women and men can be described historically in three eras; equal treatment, positive action and, most recently, the gender perspective. In accordance with the latter, gender mainstreaming is the latest method in dealing with these issues. Its aim is the implementation of the gender perspective in all policy processes and to challenge the male norm that permeates all decision making. EU:s work on equal opportunities, though, persists not only of gender mainstreaming but has a double approach also including special actions.This thesis bases its argumentation on discourse analysis of communications from the Commission regarding employment and social affairs. It argues that the two components of the double approach; gender mainstreaming and special actions, are incompatible and even becomes contra productive put together.

This essay is about use, misuse and non-use of history in politics. To recognize genocide is a use of history that has been established in politics, but also sparked debate. The position of non-use of history in international policy towards Turkey's denial policy has increasingly been replaced by recognition of genocide as a matter of making up with the story, moral consider, and where fundamental issues of culture, identity, history and morality has become guiding element in the discourse behind European expansion and integration policies. A breakthrough for this change is due to the Cold War's end; since the 1980s it has become possible to realize the humanitarianism which has its roots in the Enlightenment humanism underlying the United Nations, and later the EU conventions on human rights and genocide conventions. A genocide concept has become an important discourse in world politics that puts moral pressure on states to act.

In this study we examine trade patterns between Turkey and 13 member states of the European Union and how these have developed over the time period of 1983 ? 2006. To represent the industrial and agricultural goods included in the study we look at the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). Following, we investigate internal differences in the EU by selecting four countries each to represent the Northern and Southern countries of the EU. Internal differences were studied in relation to the amount of trade occurring between Turkey and the Northern and Southern countries.

?The European Union recognises that to be more effective in the fight against terrorism andon the world stage generally it must make it´s European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)fully operational?. Detta uttalande från det Europeiska rådet i september 2001 skapade hosförfattaren ett intresse för att undersöka vilken roll den Europeiska unionen egentligen har ikampen mot terrorismen.Föreliggande uppsats strävar efter att analysera EU: s nuvarande samt framtida potentiellaförmåga att bekämpa internationell terrorism. Inriktningen på uppsatsen är att analysera EU:sstrukturella förutsättningar. Undersökningen är fokuserad på vidtagna åtgärder efter den 11september 2001 och som stöd för analysen utnyttjas tre frågeställningar:1.

The supermarkets are taking more and more market shares for potted plants the last years, and a greater part is bought without prior planning. Signals from several European countries, for example Denmark and UK, indicate that potted plants with added value have become more and more popular and the added value is based on present trends. The meaning of added value in this thesis is fancy pots, packaging, pins or arrangements. Potted plants with added value sold in supermarkets offer the consumer the advantage of getting a ?ready product? quick and easy.

A lot of houses built during the Million Homes Programme are in need of major renovation. Today?s technology and materials are better than in the 60?s and 70?s. Both Swedish government and the European Union have set climate goals regarding energy consumption by 2020 and 2050. Achieving these goals would require better standards in buildings than the Building regulations demands, such as Umeå municipality?s construction requirements for new buildings.The report aims to investigate if a renovation of apartment buildings from the Million Homes Programme can reach Umeå municipality?s construction requirements.

In January 2005 the emission allowance system was introduced within the European Union and the first period ends at the end of 2007. The system was introduced in order to decrease the wastes of carbon dioxide and the system is a part of ratifying the Kyoto ?protocol which first period runs between 2008-2012.The idea of the system is to reduce the wastes of carbon dioxide where it costs less to do so and the expenses for the society therefore are as diminutive as possible. Different theories explain that companies can benefit from environment legislation and can depending on the company?s attitude gain competitive advantages improve its productivity and thereby increase its profitability.With this in mind, the study aims at examining how the introduction of the emission trade system has influenced Swedish smaller companies in the distant heating industry, with focus on the factors attitude, innovation, competition and profitability.

The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the Iranian regime. My theory is that the Iranian regime is a semi-dictatorship, based on the soul fact that semi-competetive elections take place. The main question this thesis tries to answer is what characterizes the political construction of the Iranian regime and by what means does it implement its political goals. In trying to answer this question the case of Iran is applied to four specific typologies being, semi-dictatorship, military rule, single party rule and personal rule. The aim has not been to categorically analyze if the Iranian regime matches one typology or the other perfectly, as this is seldom the case when it comes to typologies.After analysis of the four typologies, the conclusion is that the Iranian regime utilizes semi-competitive elections to give a guise of democracy, as is in line with a semi-dictatorship.

After contacting the company Elite Group Sverige AB, who sells strollers under the brand Crescent Baby, it was determined that the project group were to develop a three wheeled stroller which was going to be Crescents first own developed stroller. Only the frame of the stroller was considered within the demarcation of this project however care was taken to the placement of the carry-cot and the wheels etc. Crescent Baby wished for the frame would be smaller than the competitor Urban Jungle, that the frame would have at least three unique selling points and that the number of unique parts was to be minimized. The work began with information seeking regarding strollers, competitors, independent tests, European standards and consumer interviews. After that a number of concepts were developed and past to Crescent.

The global financial crisis hit hard on banking operations worldwide and the sector fell under considerable scrutiny, with particular criticism directed against the banks' own trading practices. A bank owned by the Swedish financial corporation HQ seemed to go without serious financial damage duringthe crisis.In 2008 Finansinspektionen began a review of HQ's activities and a number of shortcomings were identified. Among other things, HQ's risk management was questioned by Finansinspektionen and further how this potentially affected the valuation of complex financial products.In our paper we have chosen to highlight both national and international laws and guidelines that HQ used for their operations and study if HQ followed those laws and guidelines. We also want topresent the theoretical model used by HQ for the valuation of its European options and how HQ calculated their capital requirements ratio. Our purpose is to show how the valuation affected the capitalrequirement ratio and whether HQ followed the necessary laws and guidelines for the valuation of complex financial products.We have chosen to carry out a case study from a deductive approach.

AbstractThe European union experience sometimes difficulties in advancing its work due to the member states? different ambitions and interests. The budget is one common tool that the member states can use in order to implement different policies according to their preferences. A large share of the budget is presently tied up in the CAP, the common agricultural policy. This share could be spent in another area and by doing so the EU could take a slightly different direction.

This thesis deals with the characterization of Japan and Japanese people by Swedish travelers during the Meiji period. It seeks to answer what aspects of Japanese people two Swedish travelers chose to highlight, and how these aspects were presented in their travelogues. This thesis also has a second aim. By applying Edward Said?s theory of orientalism, it wants to answer if Swedish travelogues were influenced by western 19th century ideas of colonialism and imperialism.