A uniform environmental rating system for green buildings is demanded in today's society, where the requirements of the energy consumption for real estate are increasing. There are several different systems around the world used to rate buildings, all with different assessment criteria and starting points, which make it difficult to compare environmental rated buildings with each other.The purpose of this paper is to acquire knowledge about the differences between the Swedish environmental rating system Miljöklassad Byggnad and the American LEED, to discover which system is most advantageous. We also examine whether environmental rating affect the value of a property.Miljöklassad Byggnad is relatively simple structured, which makes it possible for private individuals to rate their property. LEED is better structured on the other hand in the case of environmental classification of commercial properties, because there are manuals for among others hospitals, schools and retail. The rating system for Miljöklassad Byggnad is good since the system seeks to fix the number of errors and deficiencies as soon as possible.

Finanskrisens inträde i mitten av 2008 utsattes Sveriges ekonomi för kraftiga påfrestningar. BNP-tillväxten mattades av och vi har till och med sett en negativ tillväxt för första gången sedan krisen i 90-talets början. Samtidigt har både hushållens konsumtion och näringslivets produktion rasat vilket har bidragit till kännbara effekter och en osäker tid för båda parter. Till en följd av detta har många företag tvingats avveckla sin verksamhet helt medan andra fått se över sina kostnader. Detta har i sin tur bidragit till att arbetslösheten ökat med cirka tre procentenheter mellan 2008 och 2010.

Allanblackia is a genus of trees that grows in the rainforests of West, Central and Eastern Africa. Its big fruits contain seeds very rich in oil which has been used by local communities for cooking and making soaps. The native stands are threatened by overexploitation and the demand for the oil is much greater than the supply. Domestication programs, aiming at introducing the trees to small holder agroforestry systems, have been started for some of the species. The main aim of this study was to investigate the soil requirements of Allanblackia stuhlmannii in terms of chemical and physical parameters, as revealed by the soil conditions in native stands. Another aim was to see if these varied along an altitudinal transect.

One could argue that the most discussed topic in finance is whether or not it is possible to ?beat the market?. Even though many people claim to do this, there is little evidence to support the idea that one can consistently beat the market over a long period of time. There are indeed several examples of investors who have managed to outperform the market consistently for a long time, but the efforts of these individuals or institutions could by many be considered to be pure luck.One of the many strategies that have been evaluated by several researchers and is said to generate a risk adjusted return greater than that of the market, is one based on the P/E-effect. This strategy is based on the financial ratio P/E ? price divided by earnings ? and used by constructing portfolios consisting of stocks with low P/E ratios.

Event marketing's ability to create strong communication effects is a well-known fact and a contributing factor to its popularity in the world of marketing today. But while we know that it is the interaction between consumers and the brand within the scope of live marketing that gives rise to loyalty and purchase intention, we have no knowledge in how the company's efforts affect the outcome. As the investments in event marketing are growing at a comparatively high pace, it is urgent to obtain a deeper understanding and a sense of direction of the elements infuencing its success.In this study we investigate in what way and to what extent the amount of effort that a company puts into the making of an event is used as a signal of manufactor credibility, ability (i.e., expertise) and consumer care. And in what way and to what extent the perceived effort influence purchase intent, attitude and word-of-mouth. We also analyze marketing events in terms of the theory of equitable exchange and "desperation", a subject matter thus far only touched upon.As we identify two different types of events on the market today, we include both in our study: the in-store promotion related event and the party event, which is held in an external venue.

Over the last couple of years, growers, researchers, advisors and plant protection companies have noticed increasing problems with tortricids in Swedish apple orchards. Since the insecticide Gusathion (azinphosmethyl) has been banned (end of 2008; KemI 2008), a further increase of tortricid populations can be expected. In order to get a picture of species composition and population densities among the tortricids, an inventory of seven species, Adoxophyes orana, Archips podana, Archips rosana, Cydia pomonella, Hedya nubiferana, Pandemis heparana and Spilonota ocellana was made in 11 orchards in southern Sweden (Skåne) in 2008. Population densities were estimated by bud sampling (April 20-25), pheromone trapping (May 5-September 22) and assessment of fruit damage (September 9-12). In all orchards A.

In this study it was investigated if the adoption of a new routine for quality control could improve the precision of the dimension measurement obtained by harvesters. Data was collected from three different harvesters. First, a reference data set was collected before the new procedures had been incorporated, and then when the new methodology was implemented another data set was collected by the harvester operators, allowing the two data set to be compered. The results indicated that following the implementation of the new procedures, the reliability and the precision of the measurements has increased. All harvesters included in the study had improved regarding most of the controlled factors such as standard deviation, systematic difference and hit rate within ± 2 cm for length and ± 4 mm for diameter..

The purpose of this master thesis was to explore and develop prototypes for visualization of trade statistics in a market surveilance application. In such an anapplication a large amount of information is processed. This information is then summarized and presented to the market surveillance staff. The practical part of this thesis was done at Scila AB in Stockholm. Three prototypes were developed based on modern visualization methods.

This study is an analysis of a survey that harvester operators working for SCA Ångermanland Skogsförvaltning have been participating in. The purpose of this study is to try to show the harvester operators opinion about the forestry planning that SCA provides. Hopefully will this information lead to suggestion about what part of the forestry planning needs to be improved, if any is needed? Unfortunately only 30 / 60 questionnaire has been returned so no conclusion can be made, except about those who have answered the survey. The answers of the survey indicate a number of areas that needs to be improved. The marked routes needs to be more visible and the education about timber landings must be enhanced.

Title: Bottleneck management through materials administration Course:  4FE05EAuthors:  Mikael Karlsson and Johannes Mueller  Examiner: Helena ForslundKey words:  Bottleneck management, material management, process description, timber, proceduresPurpose:   The objective of this study is divided into three parts, all three parts of the purpose aim for the same goal. Namely, to improve the material management so that this enables the bottleneck in the planing mill to keep a continuous  flow, and thereby minimizing the risk for production stops at LB-Hus.  Part.  1:  Identify  and  analyze the material management  connected to  the planing mill  in order to identify problem areas.Part.2:  Identify  improvement potential  in the material management connected to the planing mill.  Part.3: Suggest improvements in the material management connected to the planing mill. Theoretical framework: Process mapping, inventory accounting, balance safety, inventory availability / service levels, safety stock and reorder point, forecasting and routine descriptions.Empirical foundation:  Interviews carried out at LB-House,  illustrated with the help of process maps and a description of each process.  Conclusions:  To work with  the  suggestions  given  and  to  follow  clear procedures  in  all  processes would  result in  a more  efficient  inventory management,  it would also present  a  solution  to  the problem regarding the planing mill being a bottle neck.Suggestions for further research: Review and map the information flow from demand to production start.

AbstractTitle:                           What is the interaction between information providers and decision makers like? A case study on management accounting in Swedbank.Course:                              Master?s thesis in Business economics, 15 ECTS.Date:                                                        2009-06-01Authors:                            Daoud Ghorbandi and George TekmenSupervisor:                        Paula LiukkonenLanguage:                         SwedishPurpose:        The purpose of the paper is to study the relationship between information providers and decision makers regarding the quality of information for economic decision-making in companies.Method:                     The authors use the qualitative method approach. The essay's primary data consists of data collected through interviews, while the literature that the authors have made use of for the interpretation and analysis of the paper form the essay?s secondary data.Theory:                      It includes a main theory and four other theories supporting the paper. The main theory is the agent theory, while theories on information quality, the theory of outsourcing of management accounting, theories of calculation methods and regulations on management accounting is to support the analysis and conclusions made in the paper.Empirical base:          Interview Responses forming the essay?s primary data is presented in its entirety in this chapter.Conclusions:              The authors conclude that there are no major problems or obstacles in terms of internal management accounting in Swedbank, at least not in the departments such as the HR and the GF.

The primary goal of this study was to investigate how the radial growth of retained trees responds after thinning-from-above. The National Board of Forestry which initiated this study, was interested in whether there were differences in the growth-response between the tree species Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Another question of issue was if there were differences in the growth response between trees of different sizes. It is within the framework of the National Board of Forestry?s, Continuous Forests Project that these urgent questions are to be answered.

A more complex and turbulent world market puts pressure on flexibility and the ability to adjust its business to the market changes. The rapid and unpredictable change is hade to analyze and forecast which demands more short-term forecasting. The issue for this dissertation is based upon the demand of more flexible ways of doing business in the bank sector in Sweden, which is a turbulent and unpredictable market. Handelsbanken is a company that uses the so called Beyond budgeting concept and the dissertation is about this company?s ability to solve the economic governance without the traditional budgeting process.

Syfte och frågeställningar: Studien syftar till att undersöka vilka bakomliggande faktorer det finns för attityder till arbetslösa och hur dessa har förändrats under perioden 1986-2002. Utgångspunkten är att undersöka vilken inverkan politiska sympatier, erfarenhet/kontakt med arbetslöshet och reell arbetslöshet har på attityderna till arbetslösa. Den huvudsakliga frågeställningen är vilka samband man kan se mellan dessa tre variabler och attityder till arbetslöshet. Metod och material: Studien bygger på statistiska analyser av studierna Åsikter om den offentliga sektorn 1986 samt Åsikter om den offentliga sektorn och skatterna 1992, 1997 och 2002. Logistisk regression har varit den statistiska metoden som använts för analysen. Huvudresultat: Resultaten visar att erfarenhet och kontakt med arbetslöshet till viss del har samband med attityder till arbetslösa. Den viktigaste faktorn bakom attityderna är dock politiska sympatier.

This study was conducted on a property with a thinning machine team. The purpose was to investigate in which machine, the harvester or the forwarder, that caused most damage to the trees in six different stands. Different factors, related to the damage frequency in the stands, were checked out. For example: basal area per hectare, thinning strength, tree diameter and the rate of production. The harvester drivers were also interviewed about how, when and why stem damages occur and how to minimize them. The study stated that 4.3 percent of the trees were damaged. Out of these 88 percent was caused by the harvester and the rest, 12 percent, by the forwarder..