Purpose: The purpose of the study is to in a comparative and causal way explore whether there is a relationship between risk and return and also how it is perceived on the Nordic financial markets.Theory: The theoretical frame of reference applied in the thesis is considered relevant inthe perspective of the study?s purpose and research questions. We have among other theories used The Capital Asset Pricing Model, The Efficient Market Hypothesis and various Behavioural finance theories.Method: The study has its starting point in a quantitative approach with a quantitative data analysis supported by secondary data extracted from Thomson Reuters.Empirics: The empirics contains regression analyses made from calculated secondary data of 240 randomly chosen companies from Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, NasdaqOMX Copenhagen, Nasdaq OMX Helsinki and Oslo Bors.Conclusion: The study conclusions show that there are both a negative and positive relationship between volatility and actual return on the investigated markets. Considering this prior statement we can conclude that the Capital Asset Pricing Model can?t correctly describe the actual relationship between the parameters investigated on the current sample.

The division of Engineering Materials at Linköping University, department of Management and Engineering, conducted a research project concerning Fatigue life of thermal barrier coatings during 2009. During this project equipment to provoke these fatigue failure by rapidly heating and cooling test subjects in cycles, was ordered.Design and manufacturing of the equipment was handled internally at LIU.The equipment was built using a furnace that is lowered and raised over the table where the test subject is placed. To keep the temperature of the furnace a lid slides in place to close the downward facing opening of the furnace when it is in the raised position. On this door there is nozzle that is used to cooling of the test subject by air.To make sure that the equipment can work independently you need an automation controller that can evaluate if movement can occur without danger of collisions. The control system also needs to monitor that all elements are performed according to plan.This degree project is based on a modular system from OPTO 22 and includes the configuration of a PLC that will be supplied with logic and a user interface.The degree project resulted in a graphic interface in which a user can set desired values for different parameters and get information about current values for them.

This master thesis project at KTH is performed in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineeringdepartment at University of Florida (UF). The thesis is a small part of a gas turbine researchproject where a vapour absorption refrigeration system (VARS) and a high pressure regenerativeturbine engine (HPRTE) are integrated together. The main objective is to build a computermodel of the VARS. The computer model is supposed to be used to analyse the off-designperformance of the VARS and should also be easy to integrate as a subroutine in a more complexsystem model. To model the VARS some knowledge of the absorbent/refrigerant mixture had tobe well known, in this case a mixture of ammonia and water.

We have different kinds of signal processing everywhere around us in our everyday life, in our cellphones, when we are listening to music, watching TV etc. This makes signal processing a very interesting and important technical area, where the demand of skilled engineers sets the limit of what is possible.Working with signal processing requires in-depth knowledge in areas such as mathematics, physics, electronics, and other related areas. For this, it has traditionally been demanded by a talented developer to also master the advanced programming languages such as C / C + + and Assembler.This has begun to change; today there are several companies that offer graphical development environments for signal processing, environments where programming skills are not needed anymore, and the focus can be on signal processing instead.The goal with this project is to build a corresponding graphical development environment to reach an understanding of what is required of these systems, and also to grasp what opportunities that are available within graphic programming. Inspiration for the work has partly arise from some of the tools available on the market, and partly from previous theses that have been written about graphic programming.The challenge lies in creating a program that can execute signal diagrams in real time from given signal blocks, and be able to handle feedback loops in an efficient way and to do so at the lowest "cost" in terms of clock cycles as possible. This should also be compared against to code, compile and run a complete signal diagram directly.To increase the usability it should also be possibility to externally manage in real time the parameters of the signal diagram during execution.The interface is a separate program, which is to some extent similar to Matlab Simulink, where a signal diagram is drawn up graphically by connecting wires between different signal blocks.

Wind is used as an energy source all over the world. To be able to use this effectively, there is a need for as good forecasts and forecast models as possible. One of these models is Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS®) that is used to calculate short time forecasts. This model is used here to calculate wind speeds at two different areas in Västra Götaland, Bengtsfors and Vänersborg. There are also wind measurements with SODAR stations for these areas.

When designing roads it?s important to knowwhat loads will bedriven on it. The axles on heavy vehicles can either have super single tires ordual tires which, according to studies, damage the roads differently. The SwedishTransport Administration is developing an understanding for the character ofthese different kinds of axle and tire types on the loads induced on Swedishroads. In this thesis a field study was conducted to determine the distributionbetween axles with super single tires and axles with dual tires on heavy vehicles.A highway, a country road and a national road were investigated during thestudy.

Cultural heritages are environments created by humans that are considered to have a conservation value for the posterity. They can be seen as one of society's non renewable resources. It is important to have knowledge of how cultural heritages are affected by future climate changes.The water flow in Uppsala is estimated to increase during winter and decrease during spring and summer. Precipitation will gradually increase as well as the intense short period precipitation. The average temperature is estimated to increase as well.

The effect of climate change places demands on how we build cities. Cities have to be built denser to meet the objectives of sustainability but as a result of this densification city green areas are at risk of exploitationand disappearing. The question this raises is whether there has to be an opposition between a dense and a green city?Urban trees are playing a very important role in cities. They stand as the major part of the vegetation in citieswhich are otherwise dominated with concrete and stone.

Rapid population growth and the fact that phosphorous is a limited resource implies that the question regarding an efficient use of phosphorus is of great importance, and consequently,that the phosphorous use efficiency should be as high as possible. The view on phosphorous use efficiency, and how this is calculated, has varied over time. This has had great implications on what type of research that has been conducted, which have resulted in an inconsistency between the academic?s view on the subject and recommendations received by farmers. The purpose of this paper is to calculate the phosphorus use efficiency in the Swedish long term fertility experiments.

Abstract:This thesis work has been conducted at the Real Estate Department in Halmstad.The department consists of a construction/project management-unit and an operation/management-unit.Like many other towns in Sweden, Halmstad has had a long lasting problem with indoor environment. Not at least at their preschools.Today they are constructing from current building regulations. They have learned from negative experiences which have occurred in the indoor environment in older buildings.Focus is now on healthy materials, like low emission value, energy efficiency and optimization of the building, but still with soft parameters such as cleaning, interior and choice of materials.The fixtures is provides by the real estate department and the furnishings are provides by the children and youth administration. Together they are trying to provide a great indoor environment.I have, together with the real estate department and the children and youth administration of Halmstad, investigated how to provide a good indoor environment in the preschools with small funds.In my thesis there is one theoretical part with a questionnaire survey of how the preschool staff is experiencing their indoor environment to determine where the problems often start. And a practical part with measurements to try and come down to a result that analysis the cause of the problems and also to make sure that the ventilation systems are fulfilling projected values.The measurements and the questionnaire surveys was made at Lokes preschool in Frösakull, Askens preschool in Oskarström and Gullbrandstorps preschool.There were some differences between the staff-responses at the three different preschools.At Askens preschool they feel that the premises are cleaned poorly.At Gullbrandstorps preschool they feel that the indoor-air is bad because they can´t open the windows.

Essay in Political Science, Advanced Course, by Christoffer Hagström?The Bush Administration´s view on international cooperation and internationallaw and political-theoretical traditions influence on the administration´s foreignpolicy?Supervisor: Jan OlssonThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the American foreign policy, particularly with regard tointernational cooperation and international law. The two following research-questions are used inorder to fulfil the purpose: (1) what is the Bush-administrations´s view of of the place forinternational cooperation and international law in American foreign policy?, and (2) how does theadministration´s foreign policy correspond to dominant political-theoretical thought-traditions? Thetraditions used are: liberalism, realism and neoconservatism. The sources of the study mostlyinclude literature and policy-documents.

In this report the two authors, and project contributors alike, describe their work withdeveloping a solar cooker intended for usage in the developing countries of the world.Specifically, the work aims at developing a new, solar heat driven cooking device, possiblybased upon the current product. This should, in comparison to the current product, be lighter,easier to transport and to produce. Also, the new product?s production mustn?t be more costlythan today and the included materials and components must be obtainable from within theBolivian national borders where the product is currently produced. During the project, certainadvantages with a more efficient, and, above all, a more moderately priced product, werediscovered.

During a fire large amounts of particles and unhealthy agents occur.  Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and toxic metals are examples among many others. These agents have a capacity to bond to particles and when the fire is extinguished, the particles can be transferred with the extinguish water into the soil and to the groundwater.Recent studies in particles have been conducted. A study by Ulrika Iverfelt (2014) reviled that the particles from a fire contained large amounts of both PAH and metals, which is consistent with earlier analyses. Her column experiments with particles in the size ? 11 microns and ?100 microns in silica sand, reviled that the larger particles was immobilized because the transportation was influenced by sieving or physiochemical particle and surface interactions.The transport of the particles in soil and groundwater is regulated by two main mechanisms: physiochemical surface interactions and straining.

Since the nineties the words customer, effectiveness and quality have become part of everyday school life. Municipalities? makes regular customer surveys to measure both independent schools as municipal schools ' quality. A common method for customer research and background studies is that parents and students are asked to respond to simple Web-based surveys. Customer satisfaction and/or customer dissatisfaction options are presented in tabular form, based on the percentage that expresses a particular position within a query.

Fast pyrolysis is a method for converting biomass into three energy rich products: char, gas and bio-oil, where the latter is most interesting.  Pyrolysis is an endothermic process where biomass is heated in an anaerobic environment and, with the right operating conditions, up to 80 %wt bio-oil can be extracted. Key parameters for fast pyrolysis are: stable reactor temperature (~500°C), short residue time for gas in the reactor (<2 s) and a very high heating rate for the biomass. Today there are several different process solutions for fast pyrolysis, where fluidized beds and rotating cones are most developed. Bio-oil has compared to fossil oil: lower heating value, low pH and also polymerizes with time. Because of this upgrading is desirable for increasing competitiveness.