Free Space Optics (FSO) has received a great deal of attention lately both in the military and civilian information society due to its potentially high capacity, rapid deployment, portability and high security from deception and jamming. The main issue is that severe weather can have a detrimental impact on the performance, which may result in an inadequate availability. This report contains a feasibility study for an all-optical free-space link intended for short-range communication (200-500 m). Laboratory tests have been performed to evaluate the link design. Field tests were made to investigate availability and error performance under the influence of different weather conditions.

This thesis examines the ideological implications of an emerging shift in human rights-issues regarding information. As Intellectual Property becomes increasingly important to the economy of developed nations previously commonly owned or unprotected information runs a real risk of becoming privatized. The World Trade Organization and its binding agreements GATS and TRIPS are subjected to a critical ideology-analysis, with special efforts to elucidate possible effects on the public service realm and its commitment as provider of free information as a human right. The result suggests that not only does a threat to information as such a right exist, but that its ideological basis however seemingly rooted in a liberal/neoliberal context actually in its express views on information deviates from liberal/neoliberal theory in many ways, and that there are theoretical inconsistencies in that same ideology..

Climate change is one of the most difficult problems that humans have to deal with. Today, the evidence of human effects on the climate change and the rise of temperature on earth are strong. It is extremely important that all countries get together and cooperate in order to be able to solve the problem with climate change. One step in the work on climate changes is the Convention on Climate Change, which was agreed on in 1992. The Convention on Climate Change resulted in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement between a number of industrialized countries to limit or reduce the green gas emissions.

One must consider cost effectiveness when deciding how resources within the health sector should be distributed. Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) are used to measure the value of different medical treatments. QALY is based on utility maximization theory, which suggests that a QALY is always a QALY regardless of who receives it. Therefore, a produced QALY is worth the same regardless of the age or the initial health of the patient. Previous research has shown that these assumptions do not seem to fit the real preferences of individuals.

The subject for this essay considers the trade with amber and how it was organized in Scandinavia during the early Nordic Bronze age. There is very little written about this subject. One of the few scholars that have done this is the archeologist Timothy Earle. He has done this generally from a material that comes from the world of the living, mostly settlements. I will compare his view with a grave material that are based on Aner & Kersten Die Ältere Bronzezeit (2001, band 11).

In the expansion rate of the national as well as the international market, the importance of trademark has been given a central matter. The definition of what can be considered a trademark has been widened. Today?s trademark law defines a trademark as something that can be graphically reproduced. Trademarks can there for contain names, words, numbers, letters or the shape of the goods itself or the packaging.

This paper considers the Swedish regulations of purchase taking the perspective of private persons as a starting point. The law of purchase from the year 1990 is applicable on a number of legal purchase situations where the contracting parties varies. Nevertheless, the law is mainly focused on the purchase between businessmen. This places private persons on level with businessmen, since they are given equal responsibility regarding legal knowledge and the drawing up of contracts. In order to get a deeper knowledge of the law of purchase and to reach an understanding of how it should be interpreted we have studied the government bill on the law, cases from the Supreme Court, doctine on the area and legal articles. The purpose with this paper is to examine whether the law of purchase from the year 1990 is too old to be applicable on private purchases today.

Umbrella organizations, organizations that have other organizations as members, are in previous research described as arenas of conflicts with problematic decision-making and contradictory parallel action towards political decision-makers. However, the research within this subject is limited, and therefore the aim of this paper is to add knowledge to how such organizations in fact work. After conducting a case study at the trade association ESTOC this thesis challenge previous statements about umbrella organizations and conclude that there, under certain circumstances, may exist harmony within an umbrella organizations. The main implication, thus, is that we have to readdress umbrella organizations in quite another way to be able to make a more realistic interpretation of collaborations in umbrella organizations..

The discussion about organic and fair trade products has been a big issue during the last few years. Despite an extensive knowledge about the environmental problems and a willingness to do something about it, the consumers are not always acting that way. Children do imitate their parents and other adults at an early age, so if the role models do not begin to act, think and dress ethically correct, neither will the children. Three problems have been identified out of the discussion. They relate to the questions of how older school children and parents of younger school children are taking sides regarding the organic/fair trade clothes and how existing trends in the society as well as those in fashion contexts influence their attitudes and consumer behaviour.

This essay concerns the visual trade grading of pine and spruce.In the 1800s developed rules for sorting of wood. The rules used to facilitate the export trade.The terms of the regulatory sorting systems developed in the 1900s. While it still used some of the older terms.The essay deals with how the grading rules affect the use of wood and how the rule work and how the terminology works.Some of the terms used for sorting are O/S, Kvinta, Utskott and A,B,C,D.You sorting by counting the numbers of knots, cracks and other characteristics of each piece of wood.The sawmills have much influence in how the rules developed.Today it is often already determined in the sawmills which uses each piece of wood most have..

The European economy today is built on small and medium sized enterprises (SME?s) and SME?s recieve a lot more attention in the litterature now. Even though SME?s have earned more attention in the litterature there is a significant lack of information regarding purchasing and supplier selection in these companies?. This report aims to create bigger understanding of SME?s and their purchasing by showing how seven swedish SME?s select their suppliers.

I denna studie testas tio hypoteser som relaterar till finansiell teori för att se hur väl teorin kan förklara skuldsättningsgraden i små börsnoterade bolag. De teorier som testas är avvägningsteorin (trade-off theory), hackordningsteorin (pecking order theory) samt teorier relaterade till asymmetrisk information och agentkostnader. Testen genomförs med multipel linjär regressionsanalys och de undersökta bolagen är samtliga bolag med färre än 200 anställda på tre av de mindre börslistorna i Sverige. Resultatet visar stöd för åtta av de tio undersökta hypoteserna och är i flera avseenden tydligare än i tidigare studier som testar onoterade små bolag eller ett bredare urval av bolag..

Denna studie har genomförts för att undersöka hur Meat Free Mondays kampanj för att minska människors köttkonsumtion representerar och presenterar relevanta frågor om miljö och hälsa i delar av deras externa kommunikation.Syftet har varit att se hur miljö- och hälsofrågorna presenteras och representeras i Meat Free Mondays digitala kommunikation via videoklipp och delar av hemsidan. Vi har diskuterat vilka motiveringar som finns för att helt eller delvis sluta äta kött och utgått från tidigare forskning och teori i miljö- och hälsokommunikation. Vidare har vi utgått utifrån begrepp som kommunikationskampanjer och social marketing, och utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk över miljö- och hälsoutfall undersökt vilka motiv och retoriska resurser som används i kommunikationen. Det har även diskuterats vilken roll och verkan Paul McCartney har som ambassadör för kampanjen.Studiens metodologiska ram har baserats på Karlberg & Mrals neoaristoteliska retorikanalys av både text och bild, och huvudsakligen de tre appellerna ethos, logos, och pathos. Materialet innefattar fyra videoklipp från Meat Free Mondays YouTube-kanal där Paul McCartney framför tal, samt delar av Meat Free Mondays hemsida, med innehåll som berör aspekterna hälsa och miljö.Studien visar att innehållet av Meat Free Mondays kommunikation kombinerar olika strategier för att stärka kampanjens teser. Budskapet förmedlas genom att anspela mycket på människors ekologiska drift och gemensamma värderingar, och användandet av den retoriska appellen pathos framträder tydligt i materialet.

Debate over Intellectual Property Rights ?IPRs? particularly patent and copyrights is mainly on forward-looking industries in computer software. As part of a trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation must adhere to a global agreement known as TRIPS, for the Trade- Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights.This study is to analyse the ethical conception of Intellectual Property Rights and in particular its implications on the developing countries in relation to TRIPS. The approach will be to analyse a broad philosophical theories of property to see if there is any justification for a software program to be treated as private property and also argue base on John Rawls two principles of justice in relation to TRIPS Agreement. Some reflections will be put on the use of open-source software by less developing countries.From the study it was asserted that, strong IPRs protection would hinder technological transfer and indigenous learning activities in the early stage of industrialisation when learning takes place through reverse engineering.

This thesis studies two instruments within EC-law, affecting asylum issues, the Schengen Convention and the Dublin Regulation. These instruments are developed as a result of the free movement of persons in the European Union, and the development of the free internal market. The member states are afraid of losing control of who is residing within their borders, as their border controls has been removed, and these instruments are made to protect the member states now that their own means of control are gone. The thesis explains the relationship between the free movement and asylum issues and shows the connection between them. Its focus is aimed at the free movement of workers and how the European court of justice has interpreted article 39 to increase the workers ability to move within the union.