Biodiversity is essential for human well-being and it is defined as the genetic variation within species and the variety of species and ecosystems. Biodiversity provides several ecosystem services which are necessary for human beings but there are different threats towards the biodiversity. The biodiversity linked to the forest in Sweden are threatened, about 50 % of the red-listed species in Sweden are associated with forests. This is linked to the commercial exploitation of the boreal forest in Sweden which started 200 years ago. The forestry the last 50 years, with clear-cuts, have contributed to a fragmented forest landscape.

This thesis aims to examine why women are prevented from attaining high positions in organizations. By executing a case study through qualitative interviews with employees from the Human Resource Department at the agency for Swedish Armed Forces, this study presents eight general and specific explanatory factors that hinder women from making a vertical career. The general factors include that women are discriminated against, women are perceived as less competent, men have created organizations and it is easier to recruit men. The specific factors include that a hierarchical organizational structure is correlated to inequality, that both the agency for Swedish Armed Forces and leadership are associated with masculinity and that women with civil competence face double misfortune. The division between general and specific factors indicate that the explanatory factors vary between organizations, which among other things implies that equality work should be tailored for the specific organization.

In this study the overall aim is to find conditions for greater inclusion of pupils with SEN in X county by investigating teachers' attitudes and views on inclusion. What are the variables that may affect teachers' attitudes towards inclusion. The variables that will be studied include gender, workexperience, what age of students teachers work with and teachers' subjectknowledge. It is based on a system theory perspective with a pragmatic approach to explore how groups of activities involving or affecting each other. It is a quantitative study with a surveys selected as the method.

Previous research has confirmed that the ability to repeat non-words has a close connection to a child?s language acquisition (Adams & Gathercole, 2000; Gray, 2003; Sahlén, Reuterskiöld-Wagner, Nettelbladt & Radeborg, 1999). It is also known that a repetition task is aided if the word is well known to the child (Roy & Chiat, 2004; Sahlén, m.fl., 1999). A relatively under-investigated area is that of the influence of prosodic variables on repetition of words and non-words.In the current study, 44 Swedish children between the ages of four and six years with typical language development were tested regarding word- and non-word repetition abilities. The words and non-words were matched based on stress, tonal word accent and number of syllables.

This study analyzes 66 Swedish actively managed mutual funds investing in the Swedish stock market during the period 2005-2014. The purpose is through pooled data regressions analyze the relationship between both the mutual fund?s annual fee and risk-adjusted return to the fund?s characteristics. The characteristics of the study are the size of the fund's assets, age, if the fund is bank managed or not, Tracking Error, and standard deviation of return.By using the performance measures of CAPM, Fama and French 3-factor model, and Carhart?s 4-factor model monthly risk-adjusted returns are created for all funds over the period.

This study analyzes 66 Swedish actively managed mutual funds investing in the Swedish stock market during the period 2005-2014. The purpose is through pooled data regressions analyze the relationship between both the mutual fund?s annual fee and risk-adjusted return to the fund?s characteristics. The characteristics of the study are the size of the fund's assets, age, if the fund is bank managed or not, Tracking Error, and standard deviation of return.By using the performance measures of CAPM, Fama and French 3-factor model, and Carhart?s 4-factor model monthly risk-adjusted returns are created for all funds over the period.

The bachelor's thesis is to examine the explanatory factors affecting the choice of capital structure in real estate companies. The analysis is based on data collected from the main financial reporting from 2007; all listed real estate companies listed on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish stock market. Based on previous research and theories, we have defined five independent variables that are linked to the debt ratio, which are: profitability, growth, firm size, cost of debt and operational risk. The statistical tests have resulted in that we can say with certainty that profitable firms tend to have a lower debt to equity ratio. We can also say with certainty that property companies with high interest costs have a high level of indebtedness..

Title:Pecking-order i små tillverkande företag Level of thesis:Master´s dissertation in banking and auditing Authors:Mathias Klasén and Maria Waderoth Advisor:Joakim Winborg Background:The area of business financing has been well studied during the 1900´s. Many studies and theories are made with big corporations in mind, and the importance of small businesses wasn?t enlightened until the end of the 1900´s. Business financing has created a number of theories, among them Myers pecking-order theory. This theory implies that business managers prefer internal equity in front of debt and external equity.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate traditional market segmentation variables, as criticism has been directed towards these variables. Based on our problem discussion we find it motivating to undertake investigation in order to understand which connotations an ethnographic approach will provide. Methodology:We have applied an ethnographic approach, which has enabled us to attain under the surface knowledge from our respondents. Theoretical perspective:As we wanted to evaluate existing traditional segmentation variables, we decided to only include theory regarding these variables. Empirical data:In order to collect our data, we observed seven respondents at Ikea and conducted observations and in-depth interviews in their homes.

This essay in how to create a brand identity is a result of a case study of the Spanish mobilephone company Xfera and their new brand ?Yoigo?. Our object was to identify the critical variables in the process of building a brand identity. To achieve this we collected data about the company through several interviews with respondents with good insight in the company. The critical variables that we obtained by analyzing the interviews are presented in an empirical driven model.

The thesis handles the principal-agency problem between shareholders and the Chief Executive Officer. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the link between CEO compensation and corporate performance measured as a change in Market to Book ratio. Data was collected from corporate annual reports between the years 2000 ? 2008 and the study covers 39 Swedish companies from the Stockholm Stock Exchange Large Cap list. To examine whether there is a link between the CEO´s compensation and firm performance, we performed a regression analysis, and no significant relation is found.

The aim of this study is to examine whether the two factors SMB and HML in the Fama-French Three Factor Model proxy for default risk. The study is based on companies noted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between 2003 and 2008. These companies are used to create the factors SMB and HML, as well as a default risk factor we call RMS. In a first set of regressions, we examine the explanatory power of the original Fama-French model on a set of portfolios consisting of Swedish companies of different size and book-to-market ratio. The default risk factor RMS is then added to the original Fama-French model.

This paper studies the option market?s implied dividend as a predictor of future equity market returns. We introduce this variable in the simple total return framework and discuss some complications of using it as a proxy for the expected dividend. We construct some regressions using the price-dividend ratio and the implied dividend growth, and test them on six years worth of data on the EURO STOXX 50-index. The main result is that implied dividend growth exhibits some forecastability over two-year horizons, but that the dataset is too short to draw any definitive conclusions about long-horizon forecastability.

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum?s (WEF) equality index?By using a combination of theories (Dahl?s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF?s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality?By using a quantitative method the study?s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU?s democracy index and the WEF?sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)?The data presented by the WEF?s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU?s variables, by revising the EIU?s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU?s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase..

AbstractEssay in Political Science, C ? level, by Ylva Björkegren, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Anna Spånning. ?Sida from a liberal feministic perspective.