Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a technology that utilizes the temperaturedifference in oceans between the warm surface water and the cold water at 1000 m depthto produce electricity. The purpose of this report is to investigate if OTEC with its synergiescould become a commercially feasible energy solution for a small island. A literature reviewis conducted to explore the different OTEC technologies and to what extent the threesynergies; fresh water, air conditioning and aquaculture, could be used. In order to calculatethe profitability of these synergies there is also a study conducted on the conventionalmethods and cost of fresh water production, aquaculture and air conditioning. A model is setup using a scenario of a small tropical Island with population of 100 000 people.

This paper examines the concept of heritage and which factors that determines how we evaluate and select what should be considered cultural heritage. This has been examined using a qualitative study involving interviews with seven people working within different parts of the cultural heritage sector. The purpose was to get a picture of what the public sector?s cultural heritage consists of and why so. The research question was: What gives the status of cultural heritage? This was examined by looking at further questions: What defines the concept of cultural heritage? Who decides what should be considered cultural heritage? What is significant when discussing cultural heritage? One conclusion is that the concept itself is experienced as diffuse but that the meaning can be summarized as the traces we leave behind to be preserved by future generations.

ABB Surge Arrestors in Ludvika have for a long time had a problem to keep the moisture at a steady state in the production of their ZnO-powder, that is used to produce varistors.Some black-box models of the spray drying process have been designed and evaluated to find a solution for the problem. After evaluating the collected data it has been found that variations in the supply voltage causes control difficulties for the operator. A cascade control system was designed, consisting of three PI control loops designed with lambda tuning. The disturbance in the supply voltagewas used as a feed forward in the control system.At the end of the project the control system was installed, and tests were made to verify the functionality of the regulator. It was shown that most of the variations in the moisture of the powder could be eliminated using small resources, through purchase of a process controller and four power meters.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att med utgångspunkt från redovisningsprofessionen tydliggöra skillnader mellan nuvarande redovisningsstandard och den kommande IFRS-standarden. Utifrån vårt syfte kan frågan ställas om hur implementeringen av IFRS kommer att ske? För att lösa detta problem har vi valt att strukturera upp uppsatsen utifrån ett internationellt, nationellt och ett företagsperspektiv. Vi har grundat våra analyser på intervjuer genomförda med revisionsbolag. Utifrån dessa analyser har vi sedan kommit fram till att professionen ser på internationaliseringen som en naturlig process i positiv riktning.

Computer based information systems play an important role in modern military combat vehicles. The crew needs to be able to quickly get information about both the vehicle and its outer surroundings in order to quickly make the correct decisions. In this report, we describe the development of a prototype new information system for the BvS10 vehicle, manufactured by BAE System Hägglunds AB in Örnsköldsvik.An important aspect of the system is the time it takes from the point that the information is generated by the vehicle sensors until it is presented to the user. The system must be able to ensure that it never displays information that is out of date. Thus, it is important to create a layer and component based architecture for the solution, making it possible to control, in detail, the information?s age as it moves through the system.

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..

Abstract This paper discusses protectionism of intellectual property rights in general and the conflict between large pharmaceutical companies? rights to patent and developing countries? rights to cheap generic preparation in particular. The essay focuses above all on HIV/AIDS medicine. The description tries to give an image of the different interests that collide and why they collide. The different actors are above all the pharmaceutical branch, including researchers, inventors and salesmen with their economic interest of revenue, and the population of the development countries and their pressed situation considering the great need of medicine.

The composition of the board of directors and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are two widely researched subject and discussed by the media. This study aims to examine the impact of the board of directors' composition on CSR performance among the largest companies listed on Nasdaq OMX stock exchange 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. A linear regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship and evidence is found that board attributes have an effect on CSR performance. Among these; the size of the board, outside directors and employee representatives all have a positive impact on environmental performance. Furthermore; female, outside directors and employee representatives have a positive impact on social performance.

The knowledge that citizens have of their own municipality is very useful for the local politicians and planners in the event of such a major reconstruction in the neighborhood. It is the residents in the area that are most affected, and their view on the reconstruction is valuable if the end result will be as good as possible. Since the municipality builds for the citizens, and wants them to enjoy the outcome of the reconstruction as much as possible, it is essential that the municipality get a chance to inspect the citizen?s views and experiences about it in an early stage. If the citizens don?t want to get involved, or if only a few people involve themselves, it will be difficult for the municipality to find a solution satisfactory to all.

This study evaluates the retention of nitrogen and phosphorus in four newly constructed wetlands in the municipality of Falkenberg, Sweden. The four wetlands have been selected because they have been specifically constructed with the aim to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in farming areas. The process of selecting the specific wetlands has been done in collaboration with the county administration in Halland. Through field studies in collaboration with the landowners where the wetlands are sited, the areas that provide the wetlands with water were determined. The size of these drainage areas were determined in a GIS computer program. The type of land use within the drainage areas was also determined.

Due to the fact that bottled water has negative impact on the environment,Elite Hotel hasdecided to stop serving bottled water in their restaurants. Since Swedish tap water is regarded tohave great quality,Elite Hotel wants to look at the possibilities to carbonate their own sparklingwater and serving it in fancy carafes. This Master of Science thesis is about constructing a costefficient water carbonator system that suits Elite Hotel?s need specification. This thesis alsocovers other water refinement criteria.The work has been divided into three parts.

Aggression between laboratory mice is a common problem and can result in welfare issues such as mice hurting or killing each other and also stress. Swedish laws and regulations clearly states that mice must be housed with a companion due to their natural social structure. Many studies have investigated the effect off enrichment, group size, cage size and other potential changes in in their environment on the occurrence of aggression. Even with these changes aggression can exist and therefore a new solution was tested in this paper. The proposed solution was to house an intact mouse with a castrated one and thus fulfill laws and regulations while still maintaining the physiology of one of the mice for the purpose of medical experiments.

This study is a semi-­structured, qualitative depth-­interview study investigating Swedish institutional investors' perception of the fact that companies purchase non-­audit services from its signing auditor and if they see this as a threat to auditor independence. The study focuses on independence in appearance rather than independence in fact. The study is based on the current media debate on auditor independence and aims to provide a deeper insight to enlighten legislators how users of audited financial information look at the problem. The study builds on agency theory's notion that there is an information asymmetry between management and shareholders, which the auditor is to reduce. The results show that Swedish institutional investors perceive that there is a threat to auditor independence when companies buy non­-audit services from its signing auditor.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the implementation of the Solvency II directive will create a competitive advantage for the Swedish insurance companies compared with other insurance companies in Europe.Therefore the theoretical perspective illustrates the specific requirements and risk culture of the insurance industry and defines the critical success factors for a successful implementation of the directive. The empirical foundation is built on the QIS 5 reports for Sweden and Europe, interviews with the financial services and If insurance company as well as information from a seminar organized by KPMG. The analysis shows that the Swedish insurance companies meets the capital requirements of Solvency II by a large margin and that they are accustomed to risk management and reporting requirements from the traffic light model. This implies that the three critical success factors for a successful implementation of Solvency II are met, although with some limitations, and that Swedish insurance companies could possibly have a competitive advantage.     .

The eld of Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) concerns linking together an external device with the brain of a human or an animal. By doing this the conventional use of a mouse or keyboard can be circumvented, which can greatly benefit people with different types of diseases that cause paralysis or other loss of motor control, such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A BCI can also be used for cognitive training of either healthy or mentally impaired subjects to increase cognitive capabilities.In this thesis an implementation of an interface is made against such a device, the Emotiv EPOC Headset. The result is meant to be a stable basis for further study using the device. An in-depth study of the history of EEG and its current use in clinical work and research in the topics of BCI as well as Human-computer interaction (HCI) is presented.