This paper replicates a test performed by Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), which identifies a kink in the frequency distribution of earnings for companies listed on American stock exchanges. Their claim, that the kink is evidence of earnings management, has however been dismissed as a methodical consequence. To address this concern, this paper not only replicates the test in general, but also performs tests on a split sample, where founding family-owned companies are separated from the others, since earlier research has shown that founding family ownership is correlated with less earnings management. The results are in line with the findings of Burgstahler and Dichev, with a significant kink in the frequency distribution in the general test. The findings also show that the significance of the kink increases in the non-family-owned sample, while it disappears in the family-owned sample.

From being an exotic small religion that has existed at a fading presence in southern Iraq and Iran mandeism has moved to the West and Sweden. As more and more Mandaeans encounter a new culture and a new society in Sweden it affects not only them as individuals but also their religion mandeism. In this essay, I have begun to examine how Mandaeans think about their identity and religion. I have taken my starting point in a broad theoretical discussion of identity, religion and secularisation. Mandeism is a gnostic religion that probably has its roots in today?s Israel / Palestine and sees John the Baptist as the last prophet.

The title of this study is: The Swedish assimilation of Scania during the period 1658-1720 - In descriptions of Danish and Swedish popular historians` during 20th century to current view. View of history, nationalism and science .                                                                                                          The study concerns the Swedish, after the conquest of Scania 1658, attempts to induce feelings of Swedish nationality to the people in former Danish province of Scania 1658-1720. The goal of this study was to analyze 20th century and present Swedish and Danish historians? descriptions of the Swedish and Danish treatment of the native Scania population. The aim was further to describe this historians` view of native rebellious group called ?snapphanar? and which measures were taken to assimilate the Scanian population to Swedish realm.

??He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.? ? Dr. Johnson? . Så inleder den amerikanske journalisten Hunter S Thompson sin mycket speciella roman Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ? a Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1972).

After 9/11 and the following War on Terror, Muslims are often understood as global enemies. However, the idea of an international, Islamic enemy is in some circumstances criticized, not least after the actions of Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011.This study analyses the North American, Emmy Award-winning television series Homeland. It centres on the War on Terror and the following social and political climate, and there are opposing understandings regarding how religion and ethnicity are portrayed in the series. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyse how such aspects are constructed in the series. A text analysis is used methodologically and the theoretical perspective contents of Semiotics, Eurocentrism and Orientalism in general, and Islamophobic themes in particular.This study shows that in Homeland, the portrayal of heroes and enemies plus good and evil is complex.

Since 2007 the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory has spread throughout the world. With its twenty million watchers it is one of the most popular sitcoms of our time. The starting point for this essay is that the humourus series with the more or less geeky main characters is more than just entertainment - it is a part of the mediatization of religion. This means that media is affecting the recipients? view on religion in general and the personal religion.

This essay is called In the head of Garibaldi ? a study about the portrayal of Garibaldi in biographies and focuses on the literary portrayal of Garibaldi in biographies published in the early 20th century and the early 21st century. The purpose of the essay is to describe the possible changes in the way of portraying Garibaldi in biographies and compare the portraying to the portrayal of Garibaldi that Garibaldi himself gives in the American translation of his memoirs, which were published in New York 1859.I have in this study used a constructivist approach with focus on the attributes, ideals and roles of Garibaldi. Research and thoughts from a wide field of science has been used, for example the works on nationalism by Elie Kedourie and Ernest Gellner. The thoughts on biographies as a scientific genre as described in the anthologies Att skriva människan (Ambjörnsson, Ringby & Åkerman red.) and Med livet som insats (Rosengren & Östling red.) has also been of the utmost importance of the study.The results of the study shows that there has been changes in the way of portraying Garibaldi in biographies, as showed in the more unbiased portrayals in the newer biographies.

Denna uppsats undersöker huruvida den dramaturgiska strukturen är en förutsättning för att en situationskomedi ska fungera väl ? det vill säga, vara underhållande och locka till skratt. I en komparativ analys av den mycket väl fungerande amerikanska situationskomedin Friends och den mindre bra svenska situationskomedin Svensson, Svensson framkom dock inga större strukturella brister hos något av analysobjekten. Följaktligen är inte den dramaturgiska strukturen avgörande för slutresultatets förmåga att roa. The aim of this study is to find out if dramatic structure is essential to the sitcom's ability to entertain and make audiences laugh. This study is a comparative analysis of the more humorous American situation comedy Friends and the less humorous Swedish situation comedy Svensson, Svensson.

The history of books and libraries in the Philippines starts after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. During the Spanish era, most of the libraries were established through the religious orders to support their own religious mission. The Americans came in the beginning of the 20th century and have had a decisive influence on the education system and the development of libraries in the Philippines. For the analysis, I have used the models of Michael H. Harris and Magnus Torstensson in their studies of library development.

The overall purpose of the essay is to analyse what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant by Religionless Christianity. For this I have chosen to use the substantial idea analysis.I first came across the concept of freedom of religion to Christianity and Religionless Christians, in the book Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Tankar om en 1900-talsmartyr by Martin Lind in which he discusses what Bonhoeffer might discuss with Religionless Christians. This book is therefore the origin of the selection of literature I have chosen to use in the essay. Bonhoeffer writes several letters from prison about the movement he sees towards a new phase in human history, in which man can no longer be religious. However, Bonhoeffer uses the word religion in such a way that its content cannot be clearly determined.

This paper aims to describe the geographical changes of Swedish international aid politics since 2007, which was the year the new aid reform of decreasing collaborating countries, came up. To decrease the number of aid receiving countries due to efficiency is not a new idea within Swedish aid politics, but Sweden received criticism from the (DAC) Development Assistance Committee, saying Sweden was active in too many countries, and the government established a policy to decrease the amount of countries given aid. Despite the government?s recent work, science has shown on a failed country focusing. This is followed up in the paper trough examination of statistics to measure the extent of the reduction.

The title of this study is: The Swedish assimilation of Scania during the period 1658-1720 - In descriptions of Danish and Swedish popular historians` during 20th century to current view. View of history, nationalism and science .                                                                                                                                              The study concerns the Swedish, after the conquest of Scania 1658, attempts to induce feelings of Swedish nationality to the people in former Danish province of Scania 1658-1720. The goal of this study was to analyze 20th century and present Swedish and Danish historians? descriptions of the Swedish and Danish treatment of the native Scania population. The aim was further to describe this historians` view of native rebellious group called ?snapphanar? and which measures were taken to assimilate the Scanian population to Swedish realm.

English title: Is a literary canon necessary? A comparative study based on seven senior high school teachers´ different approaches towards the place of canon in the education of Swedish. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how seven senior high school teachers relate to a literary canon in Swedish while teaching literature in senior high school, identifying similarities and differences among the teachers? view and opinions about an outspoken formal literary canon and a silent, informal canon.The earlier research opens the door slightly to the American debate and gives insight about the complexity of the concept of canon. The study continues with exploring possible relations to postcolonial theory and didactics.    The study reveals that the majority of the concerns against canon are that too much centrally governed education may decrease the motivation and commitment of the teacher. In addition, the dominant canon passivizes a certain variety of literature, thus various points of views. On the other hand, views on the equalizing effect of canon on the level of education and its benefits in increased knowledge of the history of the literature are salient. .

This thesis examines which function the information technology may have in thechildren's library, with the example from two library computer programmes. One is anexpert system, Hedvig, which will help children to choose and to find books, and theother is a computer game, The mysterious signs, that will teach children library user education.The main question is: What conceptions do the project-leaders, the children'slibrarians and the children have concerning the function of these two programmes in thechildren's library?The study is based upon qualitative interviews with two projects-leaders, fourlibrarians, three computer programmers and twenty-eight children.The theoretical material consists of examples on other library computer programmesfor children developed in Denmark and USA, some American studies in children'sabilities to use computerized information retrieval systems, and studies concerningchildren's relations to computers.The adult's conceptions of the computer programmes are divided into categories asfollows: Democracy, aspect of sex, complement, marketing, reading promotion,development of competence, information technology development, pedagogics, adulteducational activities, compensation and armusement, pedagogics, usefulness,effectiveness and information. These categories shall be seen as the conclusions of the thesis..

Sammanfattning Hansen, Gabrielle & Jomaa, Sarah. (2008). Jämställdhet i läroböcker. En granskning av text och bild i läroböcker för gymnasieskolan. (The gender equality in textbooks.