Investment in hedge funds is a relatively new phenomenon for investors compared with other forms of savings. In recent years, the interest has increased among investors in investing their money in hedge funds, given the protection against declines in the market they are aiming for. Their main purpose is to generate a high return at a low risk regardless of market trends. This they can achieve by having fewer restrictions that offer more flexible investment strategies and freer investment opportunities.The purpose of this paper is to identify how the selected hedge fund strategies have performed during the recent economic downturn. We also want to clarify the claim that hedge funds exhibit a positive absolute return regardless of what the market is performing.In order to answer the purpose of the essay and its problems, we have used a quantitative method with a deductive approach in the processing of data.

Denna magisteruppsats handlar om vilken betydelse Human Resource arbetet har för kompetensutvecklingen inom två olika organisationer. Under senare år har relativt stora satsningar gjorts på personalutbildning och andra kompetensutvecklingsinsatser i arbetslivet. Forskning har visat att kunskapsproduktionen i samhället ökar ständigt och för att finna en lösning på detta har många företag valt att satsa på kompetensutveckling. Det bakomliggande antagandet har varit att det i allt högre grad är kunskap och kompetens än kapital som växer i framtiden. Därför bör såväl privata som offentliga organisationer satsa på kompetensutveckling både kortsiktligt och långsiktligt för att kunna möta de framtida kraven.

A possible way to reduce pollution and slow down the process of global warming is to increase the usage of renewable energy sources. One of these renewable energy sources is solar power. With the aid of solar panels and solar cells the energy from the sun can be transformed into both heating and electricity. The requirement to use the sun in this fashion is a suitable surface, for example a big roof, an angle between 40-60 degrees and that the surface should be exposed to the south. Almost every farm meets these requirements.

Den här uppsatsen behandlar huruvida det går att mäta marknadsföringsaktivitet i sociala medier eller inte. Idag används Return of Investment (ROI) mätningar för att mäta vilken avkastning en marknadsföringssatsning ger. Syftet med uppsatsen är således att klargöra för de begrepp och mätmetoder som används, samt deras tillförlitlighet. För att besvara de framtagna frågeställningarna har omfattande datainsamling gjorts i form av skriven litteratur och intervjuer. Det har även gjorts egna observationer genom mätningen av en marknadsförd kampanj i de sociala medieverktygen Facebook och Twitter.

The purpose of this paper has been to find out what motives buyers of forest property has for there purchasse, what competence they have in economics and forestry, and what analysis they had done before the purchase. The study is based on interviews with nine different buyers from two geographical areas, five from Hälsingland and four from Småland/Skåne. A forest property is a property where the value to 100 % consist of forest. A part from the interviews every purhase has been analysed in comparison to an estimation of the yield value. The theoretical yield value was estimated with a computer programme.

The purpose of this study has been to evaluate whether a Low temperature bio-mass dryer could be integrated with the local district heating system in Malå. The aim is to increase the thermal efficiency of the cogeneration plant in Malå, by lowering the temperature of the cooling medium. Another benefit that comes from this is improved combustion efficiency at the power plant, since drying the fuel causes an Increase of the heating value.Simulations has been made in Excel, and with use of linear regression, to find out if it is profitable. Data for this purpose has been supplied by the power company Skellefteåkraft and furthermore SMHI.The result of the Calculations shows that a very efficient bio-mass dryer is needed, if yield of investments should be made possible. An Investment of 4,27 Mkr, in a dryer, could at a such criterium return 60000 kr/year, if the price of the biomass is 190kr/MWh.

This research is about different perspectives, offered by three mother tongue teachers, one principal and also featuring a representative from Skolverket, on the subject: teacher legitimation for mother tongue teachers, mother tongue teachers opportunity for competence education and the future of mother tongue education in Sweden.The theoretical framework is mother tongue language, globalization, the post-colonial theory, power and social inequality. A qualitative approach was used including five interviews taken place in Stockholm, the results does not however represent the whole country nor the community of Stockholm itself.The result shows that mother tongue teachers thinks the teacher legitimation does not mean anything regarding their already low-status. Even principal and representative from Skolverket express their concern towards the 'non-demand' for mother tongue teachers to get their legitimation and they feel there is a lack of ambition from decisonmakers to include the mother tongue teachers.As per today there is no higher education for mother tongue teachers leading towards an exam. Mother tongue teachers are worried about their future although principal and representant takes a bright outlook. .

Recently there have been a lot of talk a about the financial crisis and recession. This is understandable since the crisis, which initially was limited to the U.S. now has spread its concern globally in form of bankruptcies, less investment and lots of people have lost here jobs. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the financial crisis have affected the construction industry relating to market and personnel, but also examine what measures the construction companies have taken. The examination was carried out by information received from the majority of construction-related websites which then was followed up with interviews in the various construction sectors.

Biogas mainly consists of methane and carbon dioxide, where methane is theenergy-rich gas, and is naturally created when organic matter breaks down in absenceof oxygen, also known as anaerobic digestion. A biogas plant re-creates the anaerobicconditions inside a digester where the organic substrate is fed into and digests toproduce biogas. The gas is then used to produce energy by combustion and can beseen as a completely renewable fuel.Today, energy from biogas is used primarily by major stakeholders such asmunicipalities and thus the plants become very large with high investment- andconstruction costs. There are currently few small plants in Sweden, even though thepotential for agriculture and medium-sized to smaller farms to become self-sufficientin terms of electricity and heat is great. Farms have a natural stock of digestibleorganic material in form of manure or crops for example, which are constantlyavailable.

The Swedish cooperative Lantmännen Ekonomiska Förening has initiated a project labelled "Operation Blåljus" that includes an extensive program for closing down elevators. The number of elevators will be reduced from 92 to approximately 15 after harvest of 2007. The objective of Blåljus is to increase the price of grain with 10 öre/kg. A project has been initiated at the Lantmännen Grain division where the purpose is to provide the farmers with support in their decisions and practical advice how they can load a 35 ton grain truck on 30 minutes. The result from the project will serve as a support system to the farmer in his ambition to achieve cost efficient systems to load a truck with grain on the farm.

In Uppsala CHP Plant, there are six pressure reducing valves to reduce the pressure from 15 to 3 bars, before six absorption heat pumps. During the process the energy is conserved but losses occur in form of exergy. The aim of this thesis is to reduce the losses of exergy. This can be done by letting turbines replace the pressure reducing valves.In this thesis an investigation has been done of the conditions today, the conditions after the change from pressure reducing valves to turbines and a comparison of three different types of turbine solutions. The three examined solutions are one turbine, several helical screw expanders and several small turbines in parallel with asynchronous generators.The six absorption heat pumps have been divided into two groups; one group of four and one group of two absorption heat pumps.

2013 a decision was made that all projects at the Swedish Transport Administration shoulduse BIM (Building Information Modeling) to some extent from 2015. BIM is an approachthat allows for streamlining of projects by the use of a 3D-model created in an early stage ofthe project. The 3D-model can carry information about the facility throughout its life cyclefrom planning to management. The use of a 3D-model can help the project to detect errors inearly stages of the project when it is easy and cheap to fix the error instead of finding theerror in the construction phase when it is costly and time consuming to fix it. 3D-models alsolead to improved communication both within the project groups and with the public.

This study is intended to identify which factors that influence the success of initiatives in Customer Relationship Management, usually abbreviated as CRM. In the course of this study we have been in contact with forty-two companies operating in Sweden within eleven different sectors in order to find out how they operate regarding CRM initiatives, particularly initiatives within marketing and promotions. Against the data collected during the study it was concluded that the companies working with CRM believed that the CRM initiatives resulted in higher profitability and created more loyal customers. At the same time it was evident that the companies had different views on CRM as a method and its benefits. The majority of the companies could not present any tangible results from CRM-initiatives. It was also revealed that decisions regarding CRM initiatives were based on subjective assessments and without theoretical foundation.

With this paper we intend to investigate what kind of benefits there are by adding commodity futures to a well-diversified portfolio. Since the last fifteen years the commodity speculation has grown tremendously, which partially can be explained by that commodities exposes the investor to certain factors other than an investment in equities. According to our calculations the commodity futures have outperformed stocks during our research period, which partially could be explained by the increasing demand of physical commodities in developing countries e.g. India & China (Akey, 2005). By constructing different portfolios consisting of equities and corporate bonds we could investigate whether our portfolios will benefit from commodity futures and how this will vary over different levels of risk.

In the light of the criticism from the Swedish Consumers? Association towards the actions of modern fund managers on the Swedish Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) market, discussions of change has increased. The reasons underlying a change and communication process are scarcely focused on. Thus, grounded on theories in the fields of Critical Management Studies (CSR), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), change and communication, this study analyses how a change of implementing revised SRI communication is carried out at Handelsbanken Asset Management, existing motives for the change in communication, and how key actors can affect the process. A participant observation and in-depth interviews were carried out enfolding a discussion that contributed with a critical analysis and discussion, concluding external motives to be dominant and that key actors of the change process are influential to a various extent.