Denna rapport beskriver vilken kommunikationskvalitet i form av prestanda, tillförlitlighet och tillgänglighet som kan förväntas av datakommunikationsstandarden OPC. För att ta fram information om kommunikationskvalitén har en praktisk utvärdering i form av duglighetstester utförts. Den praktiska utvärderingen har gjorts med Bosch Rexroths OPC-server OPC.IwSCP och mot Bosch Rexroths styrsystem MTX High Performance. Rapporten ger svar på vilken kommunikationskvalitet som kan förväntas med specificerad OPC-server och styrsystem. Rapporten beskriver också hur några av parametrarna i OPC Foundations API:er påverkar kommunikationskvalitén.

Today?s environmental discussions have led to more progress in the different transportareas. To ride a bicycle is often one of the most efficient alternative when it comes totransport. An Electric bike is, and makes transportation more efficient than a regularbicycle. Electric bicycles do not affect the environment significantly and allows moreconvenient transportation than ordinary bicycles do.

The consultancy firm Knowit sought a smartphone application for communication between schools and pupils. Together with the students, it was decided to create the app both for Android and for iPhone. The project would produce a prototype app with limited functionality usable as a proof-of-concept in communication with potential customers.The questions that have characterized the work are; what features would be demanded in a school app, how to program user-friendly functionality and how to use object-orientation to design such an app. A question has also mentioned the differences between development for iOS and Android. The work was done in an iterative process in which the students worked together with planning, programming and testing.

This paper is an event study on Initial Public Offering?s return behavior after the dot com bubble. Cumulative Abnormal Returns are used to measure the performance against a market index. The results suggest that the market correctly prices IPOs in the long run thus upholding the Market Efficiency hypothesis. Moreover, value weighted CARs show that large IPOs are more likely to outperform smaller IPOs, however in the long run there is an unpredictable pattern.

The forecast ability of four well-known exchange rate models for theSwedish krona is tested in this thesis. The models that are tested arethe purchase power parity, the real interest differential model, thesticky-price model and a productivity model. In addition to thebenchmark, the random walk, they are also compared to each other.They are all tested on three different horizons one quarter, two quartersand four quarters. The mean squared forecast error criteria and thedirection of change criteria are used for evaluation of the forecastability. Only in a couple of cases are the forecast ability of thetheoretical based models significant better than the random walk..

Bakgrund:Småbolagseffekten påvisades först av Banz (1981) och Reinganum (1981) som kom fram tillatt småbolag genererade högre avkastning än stora bolag under samma period. Effekten syntes även stabil över tiden vilket ej är förenligt med Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) och den effektiva marknadshypotesen (EMH).Syfte:Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det finns någon påvisbar småbolagseffekt påNasdaq OMX Stockholm och huruvida den i så fall har varit konstant under studieperioden. Vidare syftar studien till att undersöka huruvida relativvärdering av småbolagsaktier framgångsrikt kan användas för att generera överavkastning.Metod:Studien baseras på en kvantitativ metodansats med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Behövd datasamlas in och sammanställs för att sedan användas för att skapa portföljer som studeras och analyseras baserat på prestation.Slutsats:Studien  har  ej  kunnat  påvisa  en  småbolagseffekt  under  hela  studieperioden.  Underhögkonjunktur har dock en småbolagseffekt kunnat påvisas. Vidare har studien kunnat visa att relativvärdering av småbolagsaktier genererar både absolut och riskjusterad överavkastning jämfört med studiens småbolagsportfölj och marknadsindex (AFGX).

Background: An evaluation of analysts´ forecasting ability is interesting since their estimates constitute an important part in stock valuation and investment decisions. The recent years´ development in the stock market has lead to criticism of analysts? deficient forecasts. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate analysts´ forecasting ability concerning companies quoted at Stockholmsbörsen between 1987 and 2002. We also intend to discuss possible explanations for analysts? behavior in case of deficient accuracy.

Background: In the current labor and business policy debate in Sweden there is a major focus on the need for it to become easier to set up small firms, and that it needs to become easier for small firms to hire staff. In order to set up and run a business, funding is required. Firms can choose to work more or less actively with this issue, but they all need to relate to it. There are basically two ways to fund a business, either through equity or through debt. The ratio between these two sources is called the firm?s capital structure.Purpose: To chart the capital structure of small firms in Sweden.

The Swedish bank Handelsbanken has, according to their own way of measuring, been more successful than a weighted average of their competitors during the last 38 years. They have also handled the recent financial crisis, as well as the one in the 1990´s, better than most other banks. This paper studies their management control system at branch level in order to identify the controls which have been enforced to ensure that a low risk level is retained in the lending. The controls that have been identified are; (1) A decentralized organization with the offices as profit centers where the manager has restrictions regarding risk level and the results are measured as K/I (cost/revenue). (2) The absence of bonuses and individual follow-up regarding performance measurement.

Organising knowledge in a corporate environment : a case study at the development departments of Ecophon ABThe purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate how three development departments of a technical firm could organise their collection of documents and information resources to improve their management of information. Three sets of questions have been posed: 1) How does the target group of engineers deal with information, and what problems can be identified in this process? 2) What does their collection of resources consist of, how is it organised, and what problems are apparent? 3) How can principles of knowledge organisation be applied in a corporate environment?The investigation has been carried out as a case study. Three main methods of collecting empirical data have been used: surveys, unstructured interviews and collection observations. The results of the study have highlighted three major problem areas: the collection's lack of structure and searchability, the absence of policy regarding how employers should deal with information, and the inadequate knowledge among staff on how to search for, use and disseminate information.By looking at previous research on knowledge organisation, we have been able to draw conclusions regarding how the target group could organise and manage its information and knowledge in order to achieve greater efficiency in dealing with information and carrying out work tasks.

Gränslöst arbete innebär att ansvaret ligger hos individen och denne själv kan bestämma var, hur och när arbetet ska utföras. Prestationsbaserad självkänsla bidrar till utmattning och sömnsvårigheter och att använda sig av kompensatoriska strategier är ett sätt att hantera gränslösheten. Syftet med studien var att undersöka sambanden mellan prestationsbaserad självkänsla, strategier och återhämtning bland personer med gränslöst arbete. En enkätundersökning genomfördes. Deltagare var 93 män och 47 kvinnor som arbetar på ett privat företag inom säkerhet och utbildning.

In this Master thesis, microwave connections between circuit boards are constructed. The primary frequency band is the X-band (8-12 GHz). The purpose of the connections is to enable a more simple and cheaper way of mounting the circuit boards inside a container. The connections have been designed and evaluated, using different computer programs. A few prototypes have been built and measured.

Mergers and acquisitions are common phenomenon in today´s society in order to increase shareholder value. Two years ago a fusion of Sweden´s two largest companies in the industry of real estate took place and even though three out of four mergers and acquisitions financially fail this certain case turned out highly successful. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the organizational structure and the management control have been designed and characterized the organizational performance and furthermore what are the success factors of the integration. By studying an acquisition and its potential effects on organizational structure and management control parallel to a model that describes the best practice guidelines for managers to successfully deliver value from their acquisitions, it can be shown that an acquisition has direct effects both on the acquirer and the acquired company and thus the new organizational structure. The main results, thus, is that through active leadership, increased specialization, and more decentralized and thus efficient management control a new organization has emerged consisting of the best features of two separate worlds..

Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att synliggöra livsberättelsens och berättandets menings- och identitetsskapande kraft och funktion. Det är en metodologisk studie med strävan att fokusera på livsberättelse, både som fenomen och som social handling. För att göra detta har uppsatsen koncentrerats på min informants, Sveas, livshistoria.Narrativ metod, som legat till grund för studien, har varit av kvalitativ art i form av livsberättelseintervju i kombination med dialogisk-performance analysmodell med utgångspunkt i hermeneutiken.Som teoretisk referensram för arbetet ligger livsvärldbegreppet, social konstruktionism, livsberättelseperspektivet och minnets roll.En muntlig livsberättelse berättas alltid i enlighet med kulturella konventioner och i relation till olika diskurser och offentliga berättelser som dominerar det sociala och kulturella sammanhang som berättaren lever i..

Studien processinriktat och resultatinriktat motivationsklimat på svenska och spanska högstadieskolor undersöker skillnader och likheter inom processinriktat och resultatinriktat klimat. I denna studie undersöks det hur dessa två klimat ser ut på svenska och spanska skolor och detta ur svenska och spanska idrottslärares perspektiv. I studien används Nicholls (1989) teori om de två motivationsklimaten. Empirin är inhämtad via semistrukturerade intervjuer med idrottslärare på tre svenska och tre spanska högstadieskolor. Detta i kombination med Nicholls (1989) teori och andra modeller, ligger till grund för den senare gjorda analysen.