The purpose of the thesis is to examine the relation between art, politics and ideology in contemporary art, focusing on the drawings depicting Mohammed the prophet as a dog, made by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks. His work is contextual in accordance with current art practice, thus letting everything related to the artwork become part of it, a circumstance the thesis tries to grasp in the widest respect possible. The drawings were published and spread throughout Swedish media, where they were later defended and criticized by a number of writers. Many debaters argued that the art work represents Western freedom of speech, and that to criticize them is to criticize fundamental democratic rights. This discourse tended to disqualify all arguments that questioned why such force was put into defending and spreading offensive pictures.

In recent years, the possibility to deduct expenses for research and development (R&D) has been interpreted narrowly. As a response, the Income Tax Act chapter 16, section 9 (the R&D-rule) was amended to increase the possibility to deduct R&D of more general character. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the meaning of the R&D-rule to be able to decide if the amendment is an extension of the deductibility and whether this amendment can be considered adequate.According to the R&D-rule, the recipient of the grant needs to conduct R&D activity and there needs to be a sufficient connection between the R&D activity and the company to be allowed deduction. The difficulty in applying the R&D-rule is mainly when the research is conducted outside the company and the aim of the research is not to solve the company?s specific problem.The connection between the R&D-activity and the company needs to be reasonable. This means that only R&D-activity that falls completely outside the company?s activities should be excluded from deductibility.

The military conflicts of the early 21st century have seen the introduction and rise of a new military technology: the armed drone. With the United States acting as the driving force behind this technological advancement, the U.S Air Force and intelligence agency CIA have madedrones their weapon of choice for pursuing suspected terrorists and insurgents in various remotelocations. American military leaders and policy makers assert that the armed drone?s high levelof accuracy make it the best available weapons platform for this task. However, new researchshows that the use of drones may result in more civilian casualties than previously thought, andmay in fact be more fallible than conventional aircraft in this respect.

SEB Merchant Banking provides to its institutional customers a true market neutral product called Dynamic Manager Alpha (DMA). The DMA is constructed by a long position in an exceptionally well performing mutual fund and a beta adjusted short position in an appropriate index. The key to making the product market neutral is adjusting with the correct beta, since the beta changes, it is very important to have a good model for predicting beta in the future.This master thesis begins with describing what beta is in a CAPM sense. It then continues with recognizing the so called ?Two Beta Trap?, which separates two kinds of beta.

Forest as an investment alternative has become more and more popular over the last few years. Between the years 2004 and 2007 increased the price level on forest land with 70 percent in Jämtland. In this thesis a comparison has been conducted between forest in Jämtland and an investment in the stock market. The risk in the two investment alternatives has been included in the comparison. The thesis includes two different studies between the two alternatives.

The purpose of this study is to determine which approach preschool teachers from a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool and a traditional preschool have on children, knowledge, learning and their own role in children?s learning. The two pedagogical approaches have different basic visions; Reggio Emilia follows the thoughts of Lori Malaguzzi and the traditional preschool follows the Swedish curriculum Lpfö 98. The main research questions asked were:What view on children, learning and knowledge does the preschool teacher from a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool have in comparison with a traditional preschool?Which role does the teacher believe that they should take regarding children?s learning?What differences and similarities can be identified in the teachers' perceptions?To carry out this study, I used a qualitative research method.

Events are a growing channel for companies and organizations to reach out to their customers. The com-munication channel opens up to satisfy all human senses. Which are required for a message to go into the receiver and be memorized. The research gap we decided to contribute to we made a case study of an event that is not sport related and looking at both the transmitter perspective and receiver perspective. Thus, the purpose of our study is to increase the understanding of how the transmitter should be able to convey the purpose and goal of the event to the receiver.

Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate and discuss the political and ideological aspects of Early Medieval Nordic music. Due to shortage of sources, this issue has been overlooked until now. Did Early Medieval Nordic music meet the requirements for political and ideological use? In what ways could music potentially be used politically and ideologically? Was music used as a political and ideological tool? This is examined by a contextual analysis combining music history and historical archaeology. The survey consists of a background account, focusing on the potential of music and some requests for political use, and three case studies, where musical reflections of societal tensions is investigated in folk music lyrics, Icelandic sagas and church art.

SEB Merchant Banking provides to its institutional customers a true market neutral product called Dynamic Manager Alpha (DMA). The DMA is constructed by a long position in an exceptionally well performing mutual fund and a beta adjusted short position in an appropriate index. The key to making the product market neutral is adjusting with the correct beta, since the beta changes, it is very important to have a good model for predicting beta in the future.This master thesis begins with describing what beta is in a CAPM sense. It then continues with recognizing the so called ?Two Beta Trap?, which separates two kinds of beta.

This thesis examines the municipalities of Västra Götaland and the way they are prepared for crisis communication towards people with a foreign background. Over the past years there have been several studies that have examined the issue of crisis communications towards minorities but these are often focused on the target group. In this study, I focus on the authorities' actions. The theoretical approach is primarily an intersectional one and in this way the thesis is centred on the creation of different categories, the relationship between these categories and the possibilities working with these at the municipalities.On behalf of Region Västra Götaland, this investigation began with a survey that went out to the communications officers in charge of the crisis communication in each municipality. The ambition was to clarify the preparedness of each one and show how they relate to one another.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how a company with a single brand is perceived as uniform, as well as how they use internal brand building to reconcile various competing actors within one brand. Furthermore the aim is to examine how staff, through internal brand building processes, perceives and identifies themself with the values of the common brand. Method: A case study with method triangulation was conducted at Nordiska Kompaniet department store in Stockholm. Quantitative data through a questionnaire survey with employees combined with two observations. Qualitative data was given through an email interview with a responsible manager of digital channels and PR from NK AB.Theories: This study has used the following theories; Destination marketing, Corporate brand, internal branding, corporate identity, corporate culture, brand value, service brand values, brand citizenship behaviour.Conclusion: This case study of NK has shown that internal branding building in a department store is a comprehensive work, which all involved must have a unified perception and understanding of the brand, in order to successful unite under one brand.

The main purpose of this essay was to understand and discuss the problems the Swedishmunicipalities have when missing the profession in cultural preservation area. I have madetwo case studies where competence has been present in one and absent in the other. FurtherI intend to find out what material the Swedish municipalities needs in their work with theconservation of built environment.The first case describes Vallentunas main intersection and the adjustments needed toseparate it from the local rail road. It identifies what the municipality deems importantsuch as sight lines and access to the old church area. The ability to illuminate these itemshad not been possible without the knowledge and early participation of an expert in thefield of cultural resource management.The second case revolves around an old croft in Österåker that was subject for a plannedresidential area.

This study presents a methodology that enables the annual average power of a wind turbine to be increased by automatically optimizing it?s airfoil, twist and chord dis- tribution. As a part of the study the software SiteOpt has been developed. This software connects the open source software XFOIL with the blade element momen- tum theory. XFOIL gives lift and drag coefficients which enable the blade element momentum theory to predict the power of a wind turbine at different wind and ro- tational speeds.

What is the?self? and to become ?one-self?? To resolve this questions possibility I´ve been using the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard metaphysic paradoxes. This essay about the ?self? shows the reader the difference between describing a transcendent and immanent phenomenon and if it´s possible to become or to not become ourselves. The process is a key of the ?self? which Kierkegaard explains the ?self? in and for it-self.