By using univariate analysis, tobit and logit regressions, this thesis investigates determinants of asset writedowns. After controlling for variables indicating reductions in asset values, the results show that changes in senior management are significant in explaining the writedown decision and magnitude, which is in line with previous research. The explanatory power of changes in senior management has not increased with the transition to IFRS in 2005. No evidence is found supporting the hypothesis that the explanatory power of management incentives is higher for more discretionary types of asset writedowns..

ABSTRACTThis project thesis has been written at the request of Mälardalens University, Västerås.The aeronautical engineering students at Mälardalens University and the pupils of Hässlö upper secondary school, all gets the opportunity to perform a computation lab with a real turbojet engine during their study. The goal of the lab from the University is that it should give the students applied experience from the theory part of which has been tought in the course ?Aircraft Engine Technology?.                      The pupils of the Hässlö upper secondary school are performing simpler calculations from the measured values of the equipment. This turbojet engine is located at Hässlö airport in the premises of Hässlö upper seconday school.Since the installation 1989, the engine has lost both thrust and reliability. This makes the theoretical computations made by the students inaccurate.

A substantial part of the Swedish outdoor education is being practiced in so called ?school forests?. The concept school forest was first introduced in the 1980?s by the organization Skogen i Skolan. The definition of a school forest is an area that is being used for educational purposes, over which the school and the land owner has reached an agreement of how the school may utilize it.

In the year 1800, about 5 % of the world population lived in cities (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2012, 3). Today that number is about 70 % in Europe and North America, and in 2050 it is expected to be 86 % in the developed world and 67 % in the developing world (www, UN, 2009). In addition, the global population is expected to increase with 2.2 billion people until 2050. As a result of the population increase more food has to be produced which requires more transport from the countryside to the cities. However, this flow of resources faces some difficulties.

This masters thesis investigates how the Swedish county libraries relate to equality between men and women. The thesis treats the county library both as a place of work and as a part of the national library network. One of the reasons why this study focuses on county libraries is because of their special position in the Swedish library organisation as a link between the national policy and the public libraries. The analysis in the study is based on theories that argue masculinity and femininity as social constructions, and therefore can be affected by a different type of conduct. Data was gathered using qualitative questionnaires combined with some quantitative elements that were used to gain fundamental facts regarding the distribution of employees between the sexes and the existence of equality policies.

First time labelling occurred was when animal owners marked their cattle in order to distinguish the differences. The need for labelling was added when the trade had expanded during Roman times in order for the customers to know who manufactured their craft. Trademarks are characterized as a way to distinguish one's own product or service from someone else. The marketing purpose is to create an identity. The brand has an important role as an effective competitive tool for businesses.A brand can have many different functions, which will simplify a customer's decision making process in selecting a service or product.

The purpose was to study what significance communication has for the psychosocial health of elderly deaf people who live in old peoples homes. I also explored how communication works between the staff.- How do the staff feel the communication works between members of the staff and between the staff and the residents?- How do the staffs think that the staffs' knowledge of the culture of the deaf community and sign language affects the psychological health of the residents?- What changes have the staff noticed in the residents since they moved to the ward?In order to accomplish study this area I have used semi-structured qualitative interviews and observations.The main conclusion of this paper was that the possibility to communicate in ones own language was fundamental for the psychosocial health of the residents. The people I interviewed expressed that communication between the residents and the staff worked well, but communication was a problem between the staff members. Knowledge of the culture of the deaf and sign language, within the staff, had a positive influence on the psychosocial health of the residents.

Soil properties affect the chemical composition of soil water. When studying transport of chemical substances through a basin, it is therefore important to know from which soil layer the main part of the runoff is generated. The aim of this study is to develop an HBV/PULSE model with merged soil moisture and response routines, which generates good approximations of groundwater levels. It should be possible to extend the model to simulate transport of substances and take into account which soil layer the groundwater level is currently in. The hydrological version of HBV/PULSE is used since there is no need to account for pH or alcalinity at this stage.

The purpose of this study is to create an understanding for marketing directors? viewabout how event marketing effect the company?s brand equity in four separatebusinesses. Our question formulation the study aims to answer is:How does event marketing effect the brand equity in international companies?We have chosen to perform a qualitative study with a semi structured research interviewto find out how event marketing as a marketing method, can be applied from theperspective of a marketing director in relation to our theoretical reference frame.To create structure and increase the understanding of our thesis, we will describe thebasics in brand and sponsorship theory, which will fall in to the marketing method ofevent marketing. Further we will describe the brand equity model that we will latermodify for our purpose.

In Sweden more than 400 000 private households have not yet sufficient wastewater purification. These effluent is considered as an increasing problem and many onsite purification methods have been studied. In this investigation, the method of reactive bed filters have been tested by column and batch experiments. Five different kinds of filter materials with reactive surfaces have been studied concerning their capacity to absorb ammonium and phosphorus from wastewater. The materials that were examined are Filtra N, wollastonite Filtra P, blast furnace slag and Polonite®.

This is a BA thesis in landscape planning at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate why Japanese gardens, created in Sweden, often lack the feeling connected with Japanese gardens. The thesis includes a short study of Japanese history, spanning from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, to create a mild understanding of how the Japanese society changed, due to political, religious and cultural influences. The traditional Japanese garden styles, developed during this period, have been concisely compiled separately to create a homogeneous image of each style. In order to display opposite views of garden design in the European garden styles, some of the european styles have been concisely compiled as well. To produce a higher level of understanding of the Japanese garden, a consice compilation of the fundamental design principles has been included, as well as variuos types of decoration typical to the Japanese gardens, since the miss-use of these is a certain way of losing the feeling of a Japanese garden. The thesis is concluded by a consice compilation of possible reasons as to why the feeling connected with Japanese gardens is absent, as well as some attempt to include the feeling in the Swedish versions of Japanese gardens..

The Swedish government ratified on May 1 2009 an amendment of marital law, resulting in same-sex marriage becoming legalized. With the rights of the Christian Swedish state church to officiate weddings originating from the same law, the church was thereby faced with two options: Either officially include same-sex couples in the Christian concept of holy matrimony and keep the right to officiate weddings; or give up the right to officiate weddings altogether. An official decision to accept the terms was reached on October 22 2009, but not without being preceded by an agitated medial debate.This research attempts to analyze the arguments of the debate in three stages: In the first stage the arguments are categorized according to their respective ideological standpoint. In the second stage these categories are examined from post-modern, social constructivist and socialization theory perspectives. Based on this, the third stage sees the arguments analyzed from a viewpoint based in the Copenhagen school concept of securization.The research concludes that the debate does not only simply feature two sides with differences of opinion; but rather that the arguments of the two opposing sides are founded in a common view of the other side as a fundamental threat to ones conception of a sound society..

Palliativ vård avser att förbättra livskvaliteten för patient och närstående som lever med obotlig sjukdom. Närstående utgör en fundamental del av patientens liv, och finns ofta vid dennes sida när livet går mot sitt slut. Det är sålunda viktigt att uppmärksamma närståendes erfarenheter vad gäller palliativ vård, då deras upplevelser kan bidra till förbättringar av vården. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva närståendes upplevelser av palliativ vård i livets slut. En avgränsning gjordes mot palliativ vård på institution.

The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding and knowledge of how Cubans living in Sweden experience the Swedish pattern of communication in relation to the Cuban. The questions asked by the authors were: Do the Cubans experience any differences or similarities between the Swedish and the Cuban patterns of communication? If that is the case, what are they and how would they describe them? The questions were answered through a qualitative method, based on interviews with five Cubans who were raised in Cuba and are now living in Sweden. Communication Theory has constituted the fundamental theoretical tool of analysis, complemented by Social Psychological Role theory. The results of the study have been analyzed using both phenomenological and hermeneutical methods.

Relations between the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, 1910-1930:The Unification Debate The purpose of this study is to depict the hostile relations between the two unions, the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC), and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), between the years 1910 and 1930, the proposal of and following debate about unification being especially focused on. The questions are the following:1. What ideological differences where there between SAC and LO? 2. What ideas were common in the debate? 3.