The cost of capital for traded companies is basically assessed on information from thefinancial market. Small and non-traded companies are lack of this necessary financialmarket information in order to determine an appropriate equity risk premium and tocompute the cost of capital.In the absence of financial information necessary for an external investor, it is difficult toevaluate a non-traded company with the Capital Asset Pricing model (CAPM), which isbased on the financial market information. It measures only the systematic risk, which isthe contribution of one share to the market risk of a portfolio. It is therefore important tofind models that reflect the small and non-traded companies? real business value and theirunique characteristics.

The aim of this thesis is to develop a new business model for district heating and cooling firms which can contribute to a stabilization of the Swedish national energy system. The business model is developed for a district heating and cooling firm and is exemplified with Fortum Heat. The theoretical investigation around the topic creates a rigid base for following qualitative empirical studies. Osterwalder?s canvas for business model generation is used together with a Casual Loop Diagram to identify a number of business opportunities which stabilizes the national energy system.

Bioethanol is one alternative energy fuel that can be produced from different types of biomass. Second generation bioethanol comes from fermentation of lignocellulosic material and can be seen as a more environmental friendly alternative as e.g. forest residues and agricultural by-products are used. To be able to use lignocellulosic biomass in ethanol production, it has to be subjected to different treatments first. In this study, aspen sawdust was used as lignocellulosic material.

REINERTSEN AS performs expansion and buckling analyses of pipelines using ANSYS, afinite element modelling and analysis tool. In an expansion analysis the pipeline is modelledwith thin?walled pipe elements called PIPE20 which allows plastic deformation. However, ina recent analysis the results retrieved from the PIPE20 element were incorrect for strainsabout 1 percent. One main issue was that the PIPE20 element overestimated the strains.The purpose with this Master Thesis was to become familiar with the theories and analysismethods used in pipeline design.

The objective of this study was to get a better understanding of how the cultivation methods influence the vitality in Prunus avium. The purpose was also to examine if there was any differences in shoot growth and trunk expansion depending on the method of cultivation. To find the answer to this question a literature study and a case study has been done. The literature study concerns the concepts vitality and stress. Different definitions of these concepts are shown and their connection whit establishment is explained. In the background the species Prunus avium, and the four method of cultivation that are included in this case study are described. Measurements of the shoot growth and trunk expansion were made in this study, and as a complement to these methods, a visual estimate of the vitality was made.

AbstractThe importance of good construction planning affects the final costs of the production and the timing of the project. Planning for building projects has been studied with the aim of identifying how three week planning appears in the construction industry today.A case study has been conducted in Navisworks Simulate to assess whether the software is suitable to connect the task schedule with the BIM model to create a 4D model. 4D models are used for performing 4D construction simulation to visualize the project. In order to use the benefits of the model, investment in equipment and software is required. This means higher costs for the companies.

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.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka om utbildningens kvalitet har en signifikant påverkan på ekonomisk tillväxt. I uppsatsen tillämpas en regressionsanalys baserad på sekundärdata. Den beroende variabeln är real BNP per capita tillväxt vilken används för att mäta ekonomisk tillväxt. Den oberoende variabeln i fokus är testresultat från internationella prov och används som mått för utbildningens kvalitet. Kontrollvariabler i uppsatsen är initial BNP per capita, genomsnittlig utbildningstid, fertilitet, investeringar och graden av handelsöppenhet.

I detta tvärvetenskapliga arbete studeras från den matematiska sidan tre klassiska populationsmodeller: Malthus tillväxtmodell, Verhulsts logistiska modell och Lotka-Volterras jägarebytesmodell. De klassiska modellerna jämförs med stokastiska. De stokastiska modeller som studeras är födelsedödsprocesser och deras diffusionsapproximation. Jämförelse görs med medelvärdesbildade simuleringar.Det krävs många simuleringar för att kunna genomföra jämförelserna. Dessa simuleringar måste utföras i datormiljö och det är här den datalogiska aspekten av arbetet kommer in.

The goal of this paper is to provide a model for a sustainable electricity system to an island, in the Pacific Ocean near the equator.The method which has been used is to model supply and demand of electricity in the computer program Stella, through the creation of a dynamic system that balances them against each other. The result from the model will then be used to calculate the electricity price per kWh for the island.The result of the work is that electricity from solar energy is comparable with electricity produced from oil, if the oil pays for all its external costs, and the potential for pumped hydro storage plants is located. It also requires that consumers of electricity can be their own producers to avoid the expenditure of tax and reducing the cost of distribution. But since oil is a finite resource and has had a rising cost in recent years, while solar energy has had a declining cost, perhaps this will be a more competitive solution in the future.

Flooding events are no longer rare, floods occur all over the world. Accordingly, it is vital for the society and different authorities to work with flood mapping. To meet the goal of Uppsala kommun to map the risks of floods in Uppsala län, a map of the different areas around Funboån which are inside the area of risk for flooding have been developed.In the work, cross sections and the water flow have been measured. Moreover, an echo-sounding have been carried out in Funboån to map the bottom topography. From the bottom map and laser scanned data covering the study area, a terrain model was created.

A mobile testing application using Unity was developed to analyse what impact button sizes and button layouts has on the accuracy of touch as well as the time to finish a labyrinth. This was tested on a Nexus 4 phone. 28 users navigated a small object through a labyrinth in which they collect keys to open the door to the exit. Each participant did the test 6 times with different combinations of button size and button layout each time, done in a random order. Hits, misses, completion time, order of button size and order of button layout was collected and then visualized using R.

In this thesis a possible cost effective runner change of some of the units in the hydroelectric power station Olidan is investigated. The possibility to drive a unit at the same efficiency point through a change of the turbine shaft speed and the rate of discharge is tested. Furthermore the theories behind model testing, determination of efficiency increase from model to prototype and efficiency measurements shall be discussed and analyzed with Olidan as a starting point.A predicted curve has been built on information from model tests and field measurements on the existing runners and runner data from the test of the new model. The predicted curve shows the difference in efficiency between an existing runner and a modern one. It is the difference in efficiency that is used in the calculations that are to show whether changing to a pair of new runners will be cost effective or not.

I have with this thesis sought to understand how chick lit could be useful in the classroom in the teaching of Swedish B-course in high school. Based on the model of critical literacy I am arguing that this genre would help to meet the objectives of the policy documents which, among other things, are to critically examine and analyze various types of texts.I have found that some of these texts could be used for analyzing and critically examine the ideological dimensions of texts and cultural heritage by the model of critical literacy, and also as a counterweight to the more traditional teaching of the canonical literature as a literary historical stuff that students should learn. I have also wanted to create a basis for discussions about literature in the classroom based on the chick lit genre. To do this I have, based on three themes and questions from the model of critical literacy, tried to focus on issues that might emerge from the ideological analysis and critical review. The model aims to deconstruct norms of society, and in the work of chick lit, I wanted to show how you could deconstruct norms around gender..

Severe floods caused by heavy autumn rains in year 2000 raised the question whether measures to reduce the damage from high water levels, in the area surrounding lake Glafsfjorden and along the river Byälven down to lake Vänern, are possible. One option is to reduce flow resistance along the river and thereby lower the maximum water level a given inflow would cause. Good knowledge of hydraulic and hydrological conditions is necessary in order to estimate the effect of such flow-reducing measures. In order to quantify such effect a 1-dimensional hydraulic flow model has been set up for the river Byälven using the software package MIKE 11. The model is more detailed, especially concerning topography and bathymetry, than earlier models used for studies of the river.