This paper studies the research foundations created in 1994 from the former wage earners? funds out of a portfolio management point of view. Firstly it describes the seven largest foundations and their different portfolio management structures. Secondly it analyses the performance of these foundations measured as the intercept, Jensen?s a, in a linear regression of the excess returns of a portfolio versus a proxy for the market, as well as the Sharpe-ratio.

Mergers between companies has become more and more common in Sweden and in the rest of the world with the motive to increase the competitive strength in the current markets and has an important role within organisational development of companies. When organisations merger there is not only buildings and objects that are put together but also their individual organisational structures, people, values and cultures. This can be a difficult process and can affect many people in how they think conscious as well as unconscious, feel and react.The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how employees are affected following a merger when changes in the organisational culture come up, and how these changes are expressed.This thesis is delimited to investigate only one company, Skruf Snus AB and only focus on their business and employees in the region of Stockholm. The thesis contains a qualitative investigation with semi structured interviews that has been carried out with eight employees at Skruf Snus AB. The thesis is partly based on a model of Schein which describes the different levels in organisational culture and partly on some theories about reactions to change in relation to the integration between the employees following a merger.The results of the investigation indicate that with a merger the whole organisational culture is affected and therefore also the employees.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how employees in the financial sector perceive the leadership behaviors of middle managers, and if these perceptions differ depending on the manager's gender and if so, in what way. The study is based on a social constructivist perspective and theories of gendered organizational structures. It is based on 15 semi-structured interviews with employees who have either female or male middle managers from different companies in the Swedish financial sector. The results show that gender often acts as a framework for how leadership is evaluated and understood. Female middle managers are frequently associated with relationship-oriented qualities.

The aim of this study is to explore the approach and views on female genital mutilation(FGM) among young women from Somalia, and how they perceive the tradition afterimmigration to Sweden. This is structured under the following questions: What do theyknow about FGM? What are their experiences? And what do they reckon about FGMtoday? The study is based on one recorded interview with a group of young femalesfrom Somalia. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The women?sfeelings were ambivalent though they on one hand opposed FGM because of serioushealth risks, but on the other hand were conscious of the tradition?s great influence inthe social network and daily life.

Vårt syfte med denna uppsats är att bidra till en ökad kunskap om begreppet edutainment samt att vi vill undersöka begreppets applicerbarhet inom turism. Vi vill dessutom utifrån ett kundperspektiv undersöka om och isåfall hur edutainment i ett turismsammanhang kan relateras till människors identitetsskapande process. Med hjälp av den kvalitativa metod vi använt oss av i vårt insamlande av empiriskt material, har vi i vårt arbetssätt tagit vår utgångspunkt i teorin. På så vis har vi genom triangulering i form av en överblickande analys av skriftligt material, kvalitativa intervjuer och en i viss mån kvalitativ enkätundersökning, ämnat ta reda på om teorin går att urskilja i ett empiriskt exempel, varpå vi valt arrangerade dansresor med fokus på salsa. Resenärer efterfrågar idag upplevelsebaserade och kunskapsalstrande nöjesresor, varpå vi menar att begreppet edutainment mer än väl kan appliceras i turismsammanhang.

The purpose of this study has been to explore definitions of violence performed in the name of honor, and the conditions under which the phenomenon occurs and is upheld. Furthermore, the study aimed at exploring how the Swedish expression for violence in the name of honor, ?hedersrelaterat våld?, is used within the Swedish media. To achieve these purposes, previous research in this matter was reviewed, as well as an analysis by means of categorizing the content of news articles from two Swedish daily newspapers. Previous research has showed that this type of violence occurs foremost within cultures upholding patriarchal structures and traditions, and women?s (non-)sexuality is looked upon as being of an utmost importance for the family?s honor.

Vi lever idag i ett mångkulturellt samhälle där människor från alla världens hörn möts. Anledningen till att vi ville göra denna undersökning är att vi anser att det finns en diskurs i det svenska samhället om att invandrartjejer är strängt hållna, kontrollerade och förtryckta. Det är oftast denna grupp av tjejer som nämns och problematiseras i samhället. Vi vill bidra till att ge samhället en annan bild av hur invandrartjejer lever än den som ges ut.Syftet med vår undersökning har varit att utforska och analysera invandrartjejer i Sverige med speciellt fokus på deras fritid. Vi har velat ta reda på hur de uppfattar sig själva och det samhälle de lever i.

This thesis approaches the problem of estimating the arm angles of an industrial robot with flexibilities in joints and links. Due to cost-cutting efforts in the industrial robots industry, weaker components and more cost-effective structures have been introduced which in turn has led to problems with flexibilities, nonlinearities and friction. In order to handle these challenging dynamic problems and achieve high accuracy this study introduces state observers to estimate the tool position.The observers use measurements of the motor angles and an accelerometer and the different evaluated observers are based on an Extended Kalman Filter and a deterministic variant. They have been evaluated in experiments on an industrial robot with two degrees of freedom. The experimental verification shows that the state estimates can be highly accurate for medium frequency motions, ranging from 3-30Hz.

The intention of this study is to perform a content analysis based on a theoretical framework founded on multi-level governance, MLG. The thesis examines the formal changes within employment politics between 1999 and 2004 (Sweden´s action plan for employment) and 1998 and 2007 (the spring budget proposition). I will investigate how multi-level governance has effected the Swedish employment politics. Furthermore, the purpose of the thesis and the questions under consideration are: How have the formal structures within Swedish employment politics changed since Sweden?s admission to the European union, particularly during the periods 1997-2008 and 1999-2004? And: How do the changes in Sweden, together with the European union directive concerning employment, coincide in the so-called employment strategy?While performing the analysis I have focused on multi-level governance.

The work examines geographical variations of bicycle use in Trondheim municipality with the aim to create an understanding of what influences the use of bicycles and explain the geographical travel pattern for cycling. The work focuses on the how physical structures generates different transports effects. Where bicycle travels in Trondheim municipality are undertaken is described by using network analysis in ArcGIS, based on aggregated data from the travel habit survey (RVU) in 2009/2010. Trondheim municipality is divided into smaller geographical units (zoner) whose characteristics are described by 19 variables, categorized into 6 groups; Distance, Land use, Topography, Bicycle Facilities, Road characteristics and Demographic factors.By linear regression analysis in SPSS and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, an explanatory model is elaborated. The variablesdistance to the regional center, workplace density, percentage separate bike paths and hilly terrain explains 78 percent of where cycle journeys are undertaken.

The aim of this study is to create an increased understanding of shared leadership and how it takes shape in the relationship between first-line managers in human service organizations. Shared leadership is seen as a complement to the traditional one-man leadership and briefly means that two managers share the role that usually is held by a single leader. The study has a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with managers in human service organizations. The interviews mention the mangers thoughts and experiences about shared leadership and gain approval in the hermeneutic science field. The study is analyzed based on symbolic interactionism where perspectives from the theoreticians Mead and Goffman are used.

Problem: How does the organisational culture affect the internal communication between the middle manager and his or herssubordinates?Purpose: The most common way is to study how the communication affect the organisational culture. In our study we have examined the reverse perspective. The purpose of this study would be to explain how the organisational culture affect the internal communication between the middle manager and his or hers subordinates.Theories: The basic theories in the study are The basic model, Internal communication, Levels of culture, High-power culture, Socialconstructions, Organisational structures and Leader Member Exchange Theory.Method: The study is based on the qualitative approach. We have used interviews for our collection of raw data.

The purpose with our essay was to examine which clients/patients get treatment for alcohol problems from either health care units or social service units. We also wanted to find out how staff in these units considers the importance of social background in the assessment of treatment. The questions we have focused are: How do the clients/patients get in contact with the units? How does staff in these units consider the importance of social background in the assessment of treatment? How is the social background like for the present clients/patients? To fulfil the purpose with our investigation and to get answers to our questions, we performed an explorative examination and applied a qualitative method in the form of a semi-structured interview with six persons. The investigation showed that clients/patients get in contact with the units by looking for treatment by themselves or by relatives and other organisations.

Denna uppsats belyser könsstrukturer på universitetsfältet, med syfte att undersöka om och varför detspråkliga begreppet forskare tillskrivs manligt kön av studenter som läser forskningsreferat i kurslitteraturen.Metoden som använts är experimentell och består av en könsneutral provtext, där en refererad forskare enbartnämns vid efternamnet Björk, och ett frågeformulär där 92 studenter har fått tillskriva denna forskare ett kön.Resultatet visar att 71 procent av de studenter som besvarat frågan tror att den refererade forskaren är enman. Det finns även en tendens till att de äldre studenterna har en större benägenhet att tillskriva forskarenmanligt kön än vad de yngre studenterna har.Resultatet har utifrån Simone de Beauvoir tolkats som att kvinnan fortfarande betraktas som det Andra iförhållande till mannen, som utgör normen inom akademien. Att begreppet forskare tillskrivs ett visst könhar, utifrån Pierre Bourdieu, tolkats som att studenterna besvarat frågan utifrån föreställningar som finnsinternaliserade i deras habitus, som i sin tur står under stark påverkan från de inre strukturer påuniversitetsfältet som framhäver mannen som det dominerande könet..

The purpose of this essay is to examine Marjane Satrapi?s comic novel Persepolis from a gender and postcolonial perspective. To reach this I have used several theories from mainly three different fields of theory: gender studies, postcolonial theories and theoretical texts which focus on the form of comics.My analysis has shown that idols, heroes and other cultural symbols are important for the creation of the main character Marji?s identity, but that she at the same time has many Marxistic influences. These casts of mind do not stand in opposition, but become an expression for her hybridity.