The aim of this thesis is to examine the occurrence of Cosmetic Earnings Management (CEM) among Swedish companies. CEM refers to the small upward rounding of reported net income to reach cognitive reference points. Important cognitive reference points are multiples of ten (N*10^x) of reported net income and rounding towards these has been documented in other markets around the world over the last 20 years. The occurrence of CEM on the Swedish market is studied using digital analysis, frequency testing and Benford's law. Firstly, reported net income of publicly traded companies between 1996 and 2010 is examined.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to, from a users perspective, investigate which factors affect the library use for six persons with disabilities or visual handicaps. My method has been a case study and the methods applied are interviews and observation. As a theoretical framework I use Tom Wilsons theories and models about information behaviour and transform them to a model about library use. Answers are sought to the following questions: - What does the library use look like for six persons with disabilities or visually handicaps? - How do they experience the library in their own municipality? - Which factors affect the disabled persons library use and experience of the library? All interviewees showed a very positive attitude towards the library and the majority of them visited the library regularly or received audio books by mail.

Through a sociocultural perspectivethe purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers look at quality development in preschool and how they perceive their participation in this development.I have used a qualitative method based on five interviews with preschool teachers from three different parts of Sweden. I used an interview guide with open questions. The interview answers were categorized in themes based on the responses which were most frequent. In the result I have been using an analysis based on these themes. The result showed that the preschool teachers consider that the leadership style affects their work.

The aim of this study is to investigate how employees in consulting companies develop their competence in order to perform their daily work. The focus is on informal competence development. The theoretical framework consists of theories concerning learning and competence development in working life, theories on organizational change and evaluation, a well as professional reflection. The methods applied are narrative research and interviews based on the assumption that knowledge about reality is only obtainable through language and communication.The main results show that competence is developed through experience, social interaction, communication and dialog with co-workers and customers. The post-modern conceptions of the rapid (technical) development and need to be up-to-date has a strong hold on the informants apprehension of working life, as does the notion of not having enough time for all the competence development they would like.

AbstractCompanies in the Swedish process industry has for a long time spent a lot of capital in high-tech development, which have given them increased ability to compete with high quality and excellent technical knowledge, which has given them greater opportunities to grow on the market. But it?s not enough to achieve success with new products and service; it must also be consistent what market wants and preferably something exceptional. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that are predominantly success factors and how they may affect the sales target of a new product, in this case Frövi White. Another objective of the study was to examine how Korsnäs Frövi communicates and transforms information as requests and demands from customers into refined material. To obtain relevant information to the study several interviews with respondents from most of the value chain in Korsnäs Frövi has been carry out.

The aim of this study was to describe the importance of diet and physical activity related to Diabetes Mellitus (diabetes). Method used was a descriptive literature study based on empirical studies. The study shows that diet, physical activity and lifestyle-changes are very important factors when it comes to preventing and treating of diabetes. By the right diet and physical activity the treatment with medications in some cases can be superfluous and people with the disease could live longer and be healthier during their lifetime. Nurses have the responsibility to educate, inform and make sure that the diabetic patient gets the best care as possible specially suited for this individual patient.

Adopting a socio-cultural approach to the study of cold war historiography, this master?s degree essay is a comparative study of the two main disciplinary fields of cold war scholarship, diplomatic history and international relations theory (IR). The study applies the theory of scientific development formulated by Thomas Kuhn and the concept of paradigm on the field of cold war research.Diplomatic history and IR shows many similarities in their development, and in the importance different schools has had in scholarly debate. These different schools are analysed as paradigms, a concept that has been more willingly adopted within IR than in diplomatic history. The transition from what historian John Lewis Gaddis has termed Old Cold War History to New Cold War History is discussed in terms of paradigms and paradigm shift.

Abstract Title: Enabling Smart Research and Development through Knowledge Conversation Seminar date: 2005-06-08 Course: Master thesis in business administration, 10 Swedish credits (15 ECTS) Authors: Andreas Johnsson, Johan Rosendahl Advisors: Lars Bengtsson Key words: Knowledge management, Knowledge conversation, Research and development, Ba, Trelleborg Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to create a model that shows how knowledge management aimed at research and development processes can be used and how the theoretical fields can be connected. Methodology: The thesis is based on abductive perspective where empirical and theoretical material has been mixed to create a foundation for the analysis. Theoretical perspectives: Theories concerning knowledge management and research and development have primarily been used. These have been complemented with material about team structures and incentive systems. Empirical foundation: The empirical material is based on semi structured, mostly qualitative interviews and strictly quantitative inquiries performed at Industrial Hose within the Trelleborg group.

Title: The Relationship between Internationalization and Firm Performance Seminar date: 5 June, 2008 Course: Masters thesis in Business Administration, Programme for Managing People, Knowledge and Change, 15 University Credit Points (15 ECTS). Authors: Cheng Hsun Chiang and Márton Pap Advisor: Dan Kärreman Key words: Internationalization, Performance, Multinationality, Degree of Internationalization (DOI), Country of Origin Purpose: To illuminate various crucial aspects of internationalization by systematically contrasting the different models of the multinationality-performance relationship and searching for underlying reasons. Methodology: Meta-analysis on previous theoretical and empirical research. Our emphasis in this paper has been put on the qualitative aspects of the previous research unlike many other conventional meta-analyses that focus on the comparison of the empirical data. Theoretical perspectives: Five main models have been developed by earlier studies to describe the relationship between internationalization and performance: positive linear, no or ambiguous relation, inverted U-shaped, standard U-shaped and S-shaped curve.

The thesis aims to examine how companies optimize the human capital from a value creation perspective. The value creation will be related to transfer of knowledge, recruitment, staff turnover and development. The thesis has a deductive approach and six qualitative interviews have been conducted. The results from the interviews will be strengthened with a quantitative data analysis of two measurements; value added per employee and human capital efficiency. The theoretical framework includes definitions of human capital.

The purpose of this essay is to try and bring clarity to the question, what is Chick Lit and which factors make it so popular. My thesis  endeavors to explain that it is not only the promise of light entertainment that draws the reader, but also the possibility that in an easy way they can read about existential questions such as self-development  and life -choices.As well as mapping out Chick Lit´s specific characteristics, followed by previous research on the subject and the litterateur?s history, I have found it interesting to discuss the female characters, their personalities and life choice?s against a backdrop of existentialistic philosophy.In my research of this form of literateur I have discovered that chick lit often deals with existential universal problems, and that in order to be entertaining these books must contain a serious element..

In 1998 years' curriculum for the preschool stands it those children under school age will get possibility that? communicate with the aid of differently expression shapes? and an example that is mentioned in the governing document is song and musical.  The purpose with this study is to examine how the song and the music are used from a language development perspective in three different preschools' activities. In the essay, I review to earlier research around the music?s' and the song's possibilities for the child's linguistic development. In the essay, it is discussed about some important factors that obstruct music situations in the preschool that the curriculum for the preschool (Lpfö98) not specific describes what expression shapes as song and music will contain and that deficiency on musical education at pedagogues.  The method for the study was to collect empirical materials through observations on three different preschools.

There are today large amounts of contaminated sediments in the Baltic Sea. These contaminants are the result of many years industrial activity where the contaminants have not been taken care of and just released out in the water. When ports want to dredge in their fairways and harbor areas the contaminated sediments need to be considered since they are a environmental risk. The development in this area has been slow and new techniques have just recently made its way into dredging operations in the Baltic Sea region. As a result of this there are no clear methods for implementing new techniques today.

The companies? managements acknowledge personal relations and trust, through good communication and predefined responsibilities and goals, as key factors to succeed in strategic alliance. These factors did not always exist according to the employees? involved. This research, in contrast, suggests that these factors are subordinate to the correlation between the company?s vision and the alliance objectives, hence level of priority, which indicates that management has hidden motives for entering the strategic alliance.

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to analyze what suitable hardware platforms there are on the market in order to build a low price control and information system for mobile applications, called small display module. The thesis will be underlying material for making a decision for further development. The result of the thesis consists mainly of a Windows CE kernel and a schematic for a CPU card, on which it would be suitable to build the display module. Another major part of the report is the introduction of different techniques that could be of interest when designing a processor based system. The processor architecture that was chosen is the x86.