Background: Theoretical, it?s been questioned why dividends exists in companies based upon the fact that there is a separation between ownership and control. According to the agency theoretical perception, dividends is used as a manner to unify the interest of this separation, which in turn lower the agency cost, and increase the efficiency of companies.Purpose: The aim of this master thesis is to scrutinize and analyse the association between Swedish firms? owner structure and owner types and their inclination to dividend.Method: We attack the problem with a hypothetical-deductive research method by using the existence of a universal theory, the agency theory. From our theoretical framework we propose a set of hypotheses.

AbstractThe aim of this essay is to analyse the effects of women's representation on actual political outcome. Quantitative method and materials are used to study the consequences of women's political participation in Swedish municipals.Many theorists think that women have special interests, different from men?s, which is also the belief of this essay. This political interest is here defined as freedom from discrimination and violence against women. In order to see if this interest is present in local policy it is transformed into variables concerning whether the local authority has an equality plan, supports a local shelter for abused women and by how much money it supports women's shelter.

Purpose: Reading aloud to children and having a conversation about a book, which is read to them, has attracted much attention as important factors that influence children's language development. Language development for children is one of the most important tasks that the preschool- teachers have, and according to ?Läroplanet?, all children must have the opportunity to develop their language. The aim of this study was to examine how reading aloud, and by letting them speak about a certain book, ?boksamtal? impacts preschool-children`s ability to develop their language according to preschool- teachers.Method: I have used a qualitative method by interviewing four preschool- teachers.

The study explores collective action in Sweden between 1980 to 1995 using time-series data from the European Protest and Coercion Database. In spite of severe hardship during the crisis of the early 1990s, Swedish strike-rates declined. However, contention merely shifted from workplaces into the streets; there was indeed a protest movement against austerity, as shown by a series of large demonstrations, and some riots, between 1989 and 1993. Further analysis indicates this movement faded as it was increasingly chanelled into the electoral campaign of the labor pary; having won the 1994 election, the organised labor movement no longer had an interest in sustaining the protest movement against austerity..

Wind power is an energy source that is becoming increasingly popular in Sweden and around the world. The establishment of large wind farms supply and contributes to energy production within grid in search of a more sustainable energy production. Wind power is becoming more popular and opens up new areas of implementation. More cities are starting to use small-scale urban wind power, everything from full-scale work for a little less work adapted to the villas. Sweden has high goals regarding the production of green electricity and the work which deals with the conditions Sweden plays in achieving those goals.

Value stream mapping is a tool that is frequently used by many different companies. It is a great tool used to achieve the work that follows the theories of lean production. The tool is used, however, only frequent on the factory floor and the method is also designed based on this type of use.An interest of applying the method on administrative parts of the company has occurred lately. Administrative parts of the company refers to the part that does all the planning such as purchasing, receiving orders, customer contact, contact with factory floor and other work that is made around the actual manufacturing. But the knowledge about applying value stream mapping on the planning part of the company is lacking because the method is relatively new.In this work, a comparison is made between the introduction of value stream analysis on production and planning.

The automotive industry is increasingly studying lightweight solution in their designs, also rational production and low costs in materials and manufacturing methods are of great interest. This thesis consisted in the practical evaluation of anchors for sandwich panels. The object was to study loads of shearing and pull out of the plane. The experiments were carried out on panels made up of 1mm aluminium coatings and 50mm extruded polystyrene (XPS) at its core. As the fasteners used simple methods such as blind rivets, screw and glue.

China has in recent years experienced a great economic growth, which has attracted the interest of several Swedish companies. Notisum is one of those companies and they have started up a subsidiary in Shanghai, China. This paper is intended to describe Notisum and EnviTools internationalization to China focusing on the obstacles encountered and how the company handled them. In order to achieve this, empirical data was collected through an interview and a literature review. By studying Notisums and EnviTools internationalization process to China, several obstacles were found.

Intresset för småskaliga vindkraftverk på byggnader har ökat under de senaste åren. Allt fler människor blir mer energi- och miljömedvetna samt ser fördelarna med att elektriciteten produceras där den konsumeras; i den bebyggda miljön.Det är dock en större utmaning att installera ett vindkraftverk i urban miljö, jämfört med i öppet landskap, då det finns många faktorer som skall beaktas. Stadens komplexa uppbyggnad gör att vindens hastighet och riktning varierar och ger upphov till turbulenta strukturer i den omgivande luften. Många av dagens vindkraftverk kan ej operera effektivt vid turbulens, därför måste dessa vindkraftverken placeras på höga höjder för att nå den laminärt strömmande vinden över staden, vilket ger orealistiska längder på de master som krävs, även om vindkraftverket monteras på en byggnad. För att kunna utnyttja de vindar som uppkommer i urbana miljöer bör vertikalaxlade vindkraftverk med en helixformad geometri på rotorn användas.

This thesis discusses the possibilities to distribute digital video in a military vehicle. Today, an analogue system is used, which has a maximum capacity of eighteen video sources and the same number of monitors. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the systems capabilities regarding secure distribution and additional functions. Both software and hardware tests are made to investigate the features of the digital video standard MPEG-2. Both the coding delay and the image quality are of great interest.

The purpose of this project was to develop an interactive toy concept. A toy capable of reacting and expressing emotions like happiness, sadness, anger or love. And capable of developing its character with use.The initial questions was, how do I create interest, understanding and affection between a digital product and its user? How should the interaction be made?During the course of the project the search has mainly been for something that does not base its shape and interaction on likeness. Forexample likeness to humans or pets.I have created a toy concept called iio.

This text concerns itself with war, the just war theory, and the application of that doctrine on the ?war on terrorism?. I present different views on the theory's place in the discourse, its relevance for unconventional wars followed by the analyses of above mentioned empirical situation.Particular interest is given the criteria concerning proportionality, both ad bellum and in bello, due to in part its difficult nature, and the attention it has received from others. This paper asks the question: Is the just war theory adequate for analysis of modern war?There are few alternatives.

In the beginning of the 1860s, an important railway was built between Malmö and Stockholm. The railway became one of the most important projects that would influence the entire southern Sweden. The railway line was located to areas outside the ordinary routes and a number of communities were built up along its way.Älmhult was one of the communities that was built up due to the railway. In the beginning there were only a few farms and a station, but a community developed and the village grew. In 1901 the village became a small market town, which was an important event.

This paper deals with hill-forts located on and directly south of Selaön, in the center of Mälardalen, Södermanland, dated to the late roman period and the migration period. Of special interest is differences and similarities between the forts when it comes to their morphology and the hills where they were built. Furthermore, their landscape has been examined and I have tried to put the hill-forts in relation to any iron age settlements..

This essay is a study that takes interest in technical and technological change essential to philosophy of science. What is shown is the importance of an active attitude towards this change, by the articulation of the question: Does technical development lead to new ontological questions for science? - and by the answer that such questions do appear.It is clear that passive assumptions in this matter might prohibit science in the proceeding search for truth.By examples of ways in which technical development helps and challenges science, it is concluded that scrutiny of the relationship between technical development and ontological suppositions and hypotheses within science is well motivated..