This thesis discusses various approaches that venture capitalists have when evaluating investment prospects. The thesis is a case study of the business angel network Firm Factory Network. The empirical material is based on an extensive interview with Firm Factory CEO Daniel Kaplan. Our conclusion is that Firm Factory Network uses both informal and formal methods when they evaluate interesting prospects..

Swedish listed property companies report their investment properties under the standard IAS 40 that gives the opportunity to value investment properties to either historical cost or to fair value model. One problem with the fair value model is that there is no observable market price since the real estate market is far from complete which means that the price of the asset is hard to determine because of the limited information.IAS 40 gives companies the opportunity to choose between internal or external valuation and this study aims to show how the property companies? values appeared between the years 2007-2011. From the result we will study if there could be a difference in the outcome depending on if the company chose either internal or external valuation.To investigate this we observe all Swedish real estate companies listed on OMX Nordic Stockholm and their financial reports during this period of time and complement this information by interviewing people working with these matters in the property companies. The methodology for the study is therefore partly quantitative and partly qualitative since we collect data both from financial reports and from interviews.

Male piglets have been castrated for centuries to avoid contamination of their meat with boar taint, a strongly unpleasant odour that makes the meat inedible. Today boar taint can be prohib-ited by vaccination against gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) using Improvac®. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of vaccination on growth performance and behaviour of vaccinated male pigs compared to surgically castrated male pigs. The effect of two feeding regimes, restricted (SLU-norm) and semi ad libitum, was also included in the study. At birth, pigs (n=206) were randomly allocated to the two treatment groups; surgically castrated and vaccination.

The agricultural sector is characterized by larger crop farms and more extensive livestockproduction. The efficiency improvement is partly a result from a stronger competition in theglobal market. The agricultural products need to be produced at a lower cost than competitorsin order to survive as a farmer. The solution is larger firms that benefit from economies ofscale. This brings large investments that create a greater need for leverage and closer relationto the credit agency.

The main purpose for this study was to examine how boys with destructive and self-harming behaviour are perceived and comprehended by school counsellors and literature. The study assessed how boys who harm themselves are defined both in practice and in theory by using a social constructivist point of view and a gender perspective. The study was divided in two parts concerning gathering knowledge of the matter. The authors, using a method called qualitative semi-structured interviews, interviewed nine school counsellors. To acquire scientific knowledge, the authors implemented a literature review and researched books and journal articles regarding boys who self-harm.

Modern milk production have come a long way when it comes to accommodating the nutritional and physiological needs of the animals, but unfortunately the behavioural and psychological needs of cows and heifers are often left unfulfilled. A long time for eating is beneficial for the digestion and also gives the cattle something to do and decreases the risks for developing abnormal behaviours. An important factor that influences eating- and ruminating time is the particle size of the roughage. The aim of the study was to find out if particle size influences the behaviour of dairy heifers, in particular with regard to eating behaviour and abnormal behaviours. The study was conducted at Uddetorp farm high school in Skara. Forty-two heifers of the breeds SR and SF were housed in 8 slatted floor pens.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka ungdomars uttryckta attityder gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar samt att ta reda på hur de upplever den subjektiva normen från föräldrarna. Frågeställningarna var: Vilken attityd uttrycker ungdomen gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Hur uppfattar ungdomen den subjektiva normen från föräldrar och vänner när det gäller alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Finns det något samband mellan ungdomens uttryckta attityd gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar och upplevelsen av föräldrarnas attityd gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Hur skiljer sig de uttryckta attityderna åt mellan ungdomarna beroende på kulturell bakgrund och kön? Den kvantitativa utgångspunkten valdes för studien och Theory of Planned Behaviour användes som teoretisk utgångspunkt. Resultatet visade att respondenterna uttrycker främst negativa attityder gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar. Respondenterna upplever en negativ subjektiv norm från föräldrarna.

Health and convenience trends dominate the food industry and retailing business of today. The health consciousness is spreading while appealing product attributes concerning taste and packaging also are increasingly important. At the same time, the competition is growing fierce in the Swedish market with hard discount formats and niche concepts who also are trying to provide the market with perishables. Therefore, the pressure to lower prices is increasing making economies of scale and rationalization progressively more important. In 2004, ICA launched private label meat packaged in a modified atmosphere. Consequently, many stores went from in-store cutting-up and packaging to selling centrally packaged and distributed meat. ICA is now developing a concept with fresh fish in modified atmosphere packages and needs to increase the knowledge about the market and the consumer.

In this paper the authors examine three questions: 1) Is stealth marketing messages posing as status updates on Facebook a more effective way of advertising than traditional web banners? 2) What impact has learning about stealth marketing practices in social media on consumer attitude and post purchase behaviour? And finally 3) Will different generations respond differently to these questions?Our findings show that stealth marketing in social media is not more effective than traditional web banners. Furthermore, the result indicates that when consumers find out about stealth marketing practices it will have a negative impact on future purchase intensions and brand image. Most consumers will also have strong feelings of being deceived, which could instigate harmful post purchase behaviour such as negative word-of-mouth and possibly, based on some earlier cases, boycotts.The result of our research shows that the brand perceptions and future purchase intentions of Generation Y, persons between 18 and 30 years of age, are affected in a less negative way than the brand perceptions and future purchase intentions of older generations when finding out about stealth marketing practices in social media. However Generation Y:s reaction is still negative and they do consider traditional web banners to be more credible than status updates on Facebook.

During the last decade millions of people have migrated to Europe. Parallel to this development, we see that many countries are becoming more hostile towards immigration. The success of radical right-wing parties (RHP) has been accredited to natives within the receiving countries turning to RHP to reduce their perceived threat from immigrants. Paradoxically, the RHP-support has also increased significantly among the immigrant population given the common assumption that immigrants are in solidarity with regards to shared experiences of immigration. In this dissertation, I argue for the importance of considering the increased RHP-support amongst immigrants, something that has been neglected in contemporary research.

The lack of fresh and clean water today causes severe problems, mostly in developing countries. Waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, amoebic dysentery and diarrhea create health problems and deaths among people. There is a need for low cost interventions like household-based water treatment and safe storage (HWTS). Solvatten AB is a Swedish company based in Stockholm. Their product, Solvatten, is a household water treatment unit that can treat water containing viruses, parasites and bacteria.

The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between substance abuse and completed/attempted suicide. Central questions were who the substance abusers who commit suicidal actions were. The study also tries to find out which factors that contributes to this behaviour and why it is so common amongst substance abusers. All from the point of view of three scientist and three persons working with treatment of addicts who were interviewed. The results of these interviews were analysed on an individual level with a psychological theory.

With higher prices for oil and increased focus on fossil fuels impact on the environment the heating sector are searching for alternative fuels. Pellets are a quite new product whose production has risen exponential in recent years. Today there are small-, medium-and large-scale users, where the large-scale consumers are the heating sector. The heating sector is mainly using oil to cover the increased demand during cold periods. The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential of pellets if it would replace thermal power plants oil and coal. The study will also analyze the economic impact a conversion would mean for a heating plant and if the pellet is a reasonable substitute. 2008 statistics from the Swedish district heating association were analyzed and a calculation was performed to determine how many tons of pellets is needed to replace coal and oil.

Recently, the selections of ethical funds are increased; at the same time investors with social and moral preferences have increased in the capital market. There are currently debates on whether ethical funds perform better or worse than funds without ethical criteria. This also involves a vivid discussion on whether investors know about the consequences of investing in ethical funds. Therefore, this study involves theories about the rationality and decision theory, in addition to what mainly control the investment decisions. The study also discusses portfolio theory since this is one of the underlying theories behind fund management and its development.The purpose of this study is to explain if ethical limitations in the selection of securities affect risk and return in the fund portfolio.

To achieve the requirements to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 % by 2020, Swedenneeds to increase its use of bioenergy. In doing so it seems natural that those who already haveaccess to large amounts of biofuels in the form of by-products such as straw, wood chips anddigestible materials take advantage of these assets locally. By combining production of heat withpower production at the farm it may be possible to not only reduce the direct use of fossil fuel forheating but also reduce energy costs.The purpose was to simulate different cases of using a small scale biofueled combined heat andpower plant for farm-based systems. A MatLab-model was developed and used to draw conclusionsabout the costs for production of heat and electricity with different conversion technologies.The model uses climate data to simulate the variations in heat energy demand on a day-to-day basis.The given heat demand is the base of the simulation and from this the possible electric output iscalculated. This study has focused on the impact of the following properties: electric-, heat- andtotal efficiency, fuel, fuel price and specific fuel requirements.