Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

The way we interact with computers will soon change dramatically. The input interfaces are becoming more and more intuitive and one of the latest technologies is a touch screen interface capable of dealing with multiple inputs simultaneously. The tools we use to communicate with the computer - such as the mouse and the keyboard, will slowly disappear and be replaced with tools more comfortable and more natural for the human being to use. The purpose of this project was to create a basic framework for future projects dealing with this interface, as well as creating some example programs. This report describes my work and my experiences with this new interface..

Water hardness indicates the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in water. Water with high concentrations of these ions is described as hard water and water with low concentrations is described as soft water. Water that is too hard or too soft can lead to technical and economical problems. In collaboration with Midvatten AB, groundwater hardness in the Badelunda esker between Leksand and Avesta has been mapped, and an attempt has been made to explain the variations. For this purpose, different GIS programs, such as ArcView, ArcInfo, IDIRISI, and one geochemical modelling program, PHREEQC, has been used.

Stora Enso Skog has a long term contract regarding felling rights and silvicultural activities on forest owned by Bergvik Skog. In the autumn 2006, Bergvik Skog proposed a new thinning program, ?Bergvikgallring?. The new program implied an increased focus on extraction of smaller trees compared to the present thinning program, Stora Enso Skog?s ?Kvalitetsgallring?.

Purpose: To examine the governance mechanisms and the competence PE-firms adds to theirholding companies through an active ownership in order to create growth.Methodology: A qualitative study with interviews as its main source of data.Theoretical perspectives: Corporate governance and relevant theories within that subjectsuch as agent theory, board of directors and management. Previous research within the subjectwill also be presented.Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation consists of three conducted interviews anddata collected from the chosen PE-firms as well as six different holding companies.Conclusions: The governance mechanisms used in the PE-firms we have chosen are stronglyrelated to both theories within corporate governance as well as previous research on thesubject. The governance mechanisms being used are an explicit owners agenda and strategy, athorough acquisition process, usage of external competence, active ownership through theboard of directors and the insertion of incentive systems..

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

Abstract (in English)The task for the diploma work was to develop methods for measuring of moisture content by the Karl Fischer method, in jam, jelly sweets, and fudge.The start premises was a for the company whole new equipment, which should be started up. Then programs should be developed for different kind of samples.In the task it was as well included to develop methods for dissolving the different kind of samples, since the Karl Fischer method demands completely dissolved sample material..

Over the last couple of years the airline business has gone through some turbulent changes, which has meant that customer loyalty has been affected. It?s no longer certain how or why customers are loyal to an airline, although the companies now use more and more complicated loyalty programs to keep their customers.The purpose of this essay has therefore been to examine what makes customers loyal to a service business, and what is the extent of their loyalty.To be able to answer these questions, a survey about costumers loyalty were accomplished. The results we received show that availability is the most significant issue for customers of SAS, and satisfaction is the minimum requirement for the customer. But to be able to attract loyal customers the airline has to offer them more..

The change of control clause is nowadays a well used covenant in the Eurobond market, with the aims to protect bondholders in case of a leveraged buyout. This thesis intend to evaluate whether the change of control clause is a new phenomenon in the Eurobond market today and to estimate what have been the driven force for the popularity of it. The thesis found that the change of control clause already existed before and thus it is not a new phenomenon. Several factors where found though to explain the extended use of the clause today. Starting in 2005 the LBO activity increased rapidly, exposing almost every company to the risk of LBO.

This piece of work develops a solution that automates protection against software keystroke loggers. Keystroke loggers can be used illegally to register a user's keystrokes and in that way acquire sensitive information. The solution was tested on two different networks and the efficiency was measured. The network represents an enterprise network that uses the operating system Windows along with the directory service Active Directory. A script was developed to solve the automation matter.

The Uppsala based company Q-linea develops procedures, instruments and systems for protein and nucleic acid analysis. The components in such an instrument are controlled by microcontrollers. Microcontrollers are computers in one singular chip that can be used in a wide range of applications such as cars, toys or in this case an analysis instrument. When developing a new instrument for biochemical analysis, Q-linea needed new software for controlling and communicating between the components in the instrument. The process of developing this software is the subject of this thesis.The project included research of microcontrollers and the components in the instrument.

In this essay the morphing of the interstate relations in the post-World War II Western Europe is taken in to consideration in discussing how these relations were stabilized and consolidated through community cooperation to achieve a state of stable peace. It concludes that the early 1900's of Western Europe comes close to being conditioned by Herz's security dilemma and then continues to analyze the development from this state to one of stable peace. In this analysis pivotal features of the ECSC, EEC and the EC are being scrutinized through the use of Boulding's Stable Peace theory and developments of the very same, in separate case studies, in order to account for the Communities? influence on the peace process.In doing this, conclusions are drawn that external pressures can be very effective in creating an incentive to move beyond an initial state of conflicting self-images and that a stabilizing process has got to provide a long term solution in order to sustain a trustful relationship. In order to provide this long term solution the community cooperations suggests that locking in through institutionalization, harmonization, and the creation of a state of irrevocable interdependence are highly effective..

Introduction: Taxes result in a big cost for corporations which create an incentive for tax planning. Previous studies have demonstrated that it's the management team and the board of directors that influences to what extent the corporation is going to tax plan. We want to study underlying factors for how the composition of the groups affect the tax planning in a corporation based on four demographic traits; sex, nationality, age and duration.Purpose: The purpose with the study is to explain how the composition of the management team and the board of directors affect the corporations tax planning.Method: The study has a deductive approach where theories about the composition of the board of directors and the management team have been used to derive hypothesis. The empirical material has been collected from Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. Two different measures have been used to calculate the corporations tax planning.Results and Conclusions: The result of the study demonstrates that the composition of both the board of directors and the management team has an effect on corporations tax planning.

Introduktion: I juli 2012 uppdaterades regelverken för farmakovigilans inom Europa och flera förändringar gjordes i de bestämmelser som rör säkerhetsstudier på godkända läkemedel. En sammanställning av dessa behövdes för att lyfta fram viktiga bestämmelser och ge en tydligare överblick av de myndighetskrav som berör PASS (Post-Authorization Safety Studies) och PSP (Patient Support Programs). Syfte: Projektet syftar till att analysera och tolka regelverk och riktlinjer gällande PASS och PSP inom Europa samt utreda vad som gäller för PASS i de skandinaviska länderna. Detta för att lyfta fram viktiga bestämmelser och underlätta tolkningen för berörda företag. Material och metoder: Huvuddelen av projektet bestod av en litteraturstudie där fokus låg på lagar och riktlinjer inom Europa. Informationsinhämtning skedde även genom intervjuer med personal på Bayer AB och Läkemedelsverket. Jämförelser har sedan gjorts mellan svenska, norska och danska regelverk. Resultat: Myndighetskraven för PASS och PSP skiljer sig åt i vissa avseenden.

This study examines how masculinity is portrayed in podcasts. Our original materialconsisted of four episodes of C/o Hannah & Amanda and four episodes of Filip &Fredrik's podcast. We analyzed the programs both individually and in comparison toeach other. Using a rhetorical analysis, we found that the perception of men in thepodcasts conforms to societal norms. The theoretical basis underlying ouranalysis can be expected to strengthen our findings and made us also realize that theimage of masculinity is constantly evolving..