Hedge funds? importance within the financial system has during the most recent years increased dramatically. These special funds are unique instruments that differ from traditional mutual funds in a variety of ways, however especially in how they expect returns. Due to the fact that hedge funds are able to hold short positions they possess the possibility to become market neutral investment vehicles.Because of this possibility to sustain positions neutral to market fluctuations, the concept of absolute returns became a unique selling point for hedge fund managers and promises of stable returns unchallenged by market conditions was assured. This research paper aims to examine the theory of absolute returns in hedge funds by examining hedge funds from the Nordic region during the last years of economic turmoil that has occurred by  analyzing the results from their strategies, partially by quantitative measurements as well as qualitative.  The results show that none of hedge fund strategies managed to deliver absolute returns over the chosen period..

This paper examines the power producing dams along the Ume-river as an integral part of and a result from the urbanization process in Sweden during industrial capitalism. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the urbanization process in Sweden in general and of its traces along the Ume river in the county of Västerbotten in particular. The paper applies the theory of concentrated urbanization and extended urbanization put forward by Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid (2015) and argues that the building of power producing dams along the Ume-river is part of an extended urbanization process. This becomes particularly evident when examining the vast physical structures that is the dams, situated in an otherwise remote and sparsely populated area. These vast physical structures are also very well connected to a nation wide electric grid that has connections to bordering countries as well.

Denna studie fokuserar på flickors och pojkars syn på yrken ur ett kulturgeografiskt perspektiv. En enkätundersökning genomfördes på barn i årskurs 5 där de ombads att skriva vad de skulle vilja arbeta med när de blir stora samt att motivera sina yrkesval. De fick även ta ställning till tänkbara framtida arbeten utifrån en given  yrkeslista. Undersökningen utfördes i Gimo, en mindre bruksort och Uppsala, en universitetsstad. De populäraste yrkena bland barnen kan sorteras in i några större kategorier: djurrelaterade, artistrelaterade, idrottsproffs och kock/bagare.

This candidate essay aims to examine the possibilities occupational therapists (OT) have in order to support refugee children in Sweden. The authors find the subject of current interest because there is a constant and frequently debate in our society concerning refugees, which makes us question what role the OT could have with this group. Method: This study has a qualitative approach with focus group methodology as method. At two occasions, four respectively three OTs met to discuss an in advance given interview guide. The discussions were coded on the basis of person-, group- and society perspectives.

Detta är en empirisk studie som handlar om relationen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Det som beskrivs i studien är innebörden av att ha ett serviceyrke samt att arbeta på obekväma tider. Är de två sfärerna, arbetssfären och familjesfären, relaterade till varandra eller är de två helt skilda sfärer? Kan det uppstå konflikter mellan arbetsrollen och familjerollen?Syftet är att undersöka hur relationen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv fungerar för flygpersonal och butiksbiträden. Olika teoretiska perspektiv presenteras på aspekterna av samspelet av arbete och familj.

In this day and age we carry out our purchases through different channels. We can shop our clothes and computers in a store or online. Nowadays we can even purchase our groceries through the Internet. The biggest retailer chains within groceries in Sweden have established virtual stores online and are distributing the goods in cities throughout the country. This thesis is dedicated to investigating crucial success factors when going about selling groceries online.

Atlas Copco Tools develops and manufactures handheld industrial tools. Heat and surface treatments are used to provide the tools with certain properties. There are no routines for the choice of treatment or for how to specify treatment on drawings. Production documents that are sent for production abroad may not be clear enough. Some treatments are known as trademarks and there are no instructions for how to specify these on drawings and in CAD-models.The purpose of this master thesis work is to create recommendations for the procedure of choosing heat and surface treatment.

The industry of management training programs is increasing rapidly. Every year numerous organizations sponsor expensive management training programs for their managers, hoping that this will pay off and make the organizations more profitable. The companies that offer these management training programs could be seen as important conveyers of conceptions of leadership. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to identify similarities between a number of management training programs and see how they are related to different leadership theories , and based on this try to recognize the conceptions of leadership that are conveyed. The study is of qualitative nature and is based on interviews with representatives from five management training companies in Sweden along with a text analysis of written material presented by the companies.

The purpose of this thesis is to explain why states obtain nuclear weapons and the role variousactors and interests play in the making of states´ nuclear policies. The main questions are asfollows: (1) What big theories exist concerning states obtaining nuclear weapon and nucleararmament in International Relations and what relevance do they have of the post cold-war period?,(2) What is the meaning of the perspective of the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC)?, and (3)Arethere empirical studies which supports the existence of a MIC in the United States?The focus lies on actors and driving forces that are internal to states and it is also important toinvestigate if the theories have relevance for the post 9/11-era. The study uses the method ofqualitative literature-study with some quantitative segments. It is claimed that states might beinterested in justifying their behaviour in a morally appealing way and that real reasons may behidden.

Ständiga förbättringar är något som företag alltid måste jobba med för att kunna vara konkurrenskraftiga. En effektiv arbetsmetod vid förbättringsarbete i tillverkningsindustrin är Statistisk processtyrning. Arbetsmetoden används bland annat för att finna faktorer som orsakar urskiljbar variation i processer som därefter kan elimineras med hjälp av nya arbetsrutiner eller andra förbättringsåtgärder. Det finns idag många företag med moderna tillverkningsprocesser som utför kontinuerliga kvalitetskontroller men som inte tar vara på och analyserar data som samlas in vid dessa kvalitetskontroller. Dessa data kan med hjälp av Statistisk processtyrning användas för uppföljning och förbättring av de processer som kontrolleras.

 The luxury market has steadily grown from the industrial revolution and onwards. Changes in society, trends and the increased living standards has enabled more people to consume luxury goods.The world is going through a major economic crisis at the moment. Studies shows that companies that have focused on added value rather than lowering prices has survived past financial crisis. It is also obvious that companies act very different during times of crisis. Adding to the problem is trends that point to a more careful consumption and environmental awareness.

During the past twenty years the immigration to Sweden has changed significantly. Earlier immigration mainly focused at filling the vacancies in the Swedish industry, today immigrants primarily come to Sweden as Refugees. This change of immigration combined with the restructuring of the Swedish industrial sector has resulted in great a deterioration of the chances for immigrants to gain entry to the Swedish labor market.This study aims at examining how the cooperation between authorities in the municipal of Hörby in Sweden fosters integration. The study primarily examines how the cooperation between authorities in a integration project can contribute to a better integration to the labor market.Through a qualitative study, five persons who occupy important roles in the project have been interviewed. The results of these interviews have been complemented by internal documents as well as extern material to validate the results.The most important findings that have been revealed are the importance of language in the process of gaining entrance to the Swedish labor market.

The increasing holdings by institutional investors have raised concerns about the institutions passive investment strategies and the implications for corporate governance. A way for investors to address moral hazard and opportunistic behaviour of management is to demand conservatism in accounting practices. This paper analyses the relation between institutional ownership and accounting conservatism in the Swedish market by studying firms on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm over a three-year period. Furthermore, the study investigates whether ownership by institutions with high probability of monitoring managers leads to higher conservatism in financial reporting. To measure accounting conservatism this study uses the asymmetric timeliness measure developed by Basu (1997).

A water treatment unit consisting of two aeration basins, two settling tanks, a residence basinand a horizontal subsurface flow wetland were used to treat wastewater from an eggprocessing factory in Brazil. The aim of this paper was to determine the efficiency of thesystem in reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, BOD5 and TSS (among other parameters) andgetting a further understanding on different kinds of constructed treatment wetlands as well astheir nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes. The wastewater from the factory consistedof process water from manufacturing and water used for cleaning, no stormwater or sewagewater entered the system. Tests were taken three times a month from October 2013 ?til April2014.

This report deals with the attitudes within municipalities of open source software and open standards and if open source software may be an option to gain open standards. The aim has been to find out if open source software and open standards would be able to solve the lock-in problems that municipalities have against proprietary software. The study is conducted as an exploratory, inductive and qualitative study with depth interviews of subjectively selected informants as data collection method. A literature review has also been implemented by the relevant books and articles. Some economic determinants of municipalities to make use of open source software have not been considered in this study.