This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of interest rate swap spreads in Sweden during the period 1999-2003. The results suggest that the spread between STIBOR and the general collateral repo rate is positively related to shorter maturity swap spreads. The risk premium associated with commercial bonds is positively related to swap spreads of all maturities. A negative relationship is observed between the term structure of interest rates and swap spreads. The short-term interest rate is positively related to spreads with shorter maturities.

Title: The life is too soft to accord in to tariffs: an essay about youth and families with children who are recipients of economic support, their experience of their financial situation and the reception towards the social welfare.Author: Ana Becovic & Kerstin Olsson         Supervisor: Erik WesserInstitution: Humanvetenskapliga institutionen, Högskolan i KalmarType of Essay: Degree project, 15 ECTS                     Date: December 2008The aim for our study has been to examine how youth and families who are recipients of economic support on long term basis experience their contact with social welfare. The starting point for the question at issue has been the client's experience of their financial situation the reception and expectations towards the social welfare.In our B-level study we carried out qualitative interviews with social welfare officers to find out how they applied the "child perspective" in granting financial support and to what extent they felt that they succeeded in meeting the need of the client. The conclusion was that there is still room for improvement in this field and particularly a wish to focus more on the child's situation and development. The officers told us that they tried to pay closer attention to the child's situation through asking about the children and by visiting the families at home.They expressed awareness of the importance to a child's well being the financial situation of their family. They also expressed the need for the child to be able to take part in leisure time activities and having an active social life.In this study our research method is based on qualitative interviews.

During the past decade Information Technology (IT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have become the main tools in teaching. Authors and early educators who are treated in the study talks about how technology has come to change the school's approach to teaching and didactic tools. The technology has also affected students´ and teachers´ ways to work because the technology's versatility makes demands on the user's expertise and competence. The technical skills have long been associated as a male domain, where men are expected to master the technology´s versatility. These expectations are not the same for women.

This paper intends to examine the knowledge challenges in small IT companies which is going through rapid growth. The movement of information and knowledge is a social and very complex process. The challenge for technology is the social as information and knowledge requires. To believe blindly that technology will solve the problem is what many people think. In order to understand how technology can support information and knowledge management one needs to understand what information and knowledge is.

The purpose of this essay is to describe how probation service officers regard their professional role and their liberty of action within the motivational treatment program, MIK, and the probation organization. To answer the purpose three questions were formulated: 1) Does the probation service organization affect the individual discretion for the probation service officers, and in that case how? 2) Does the motivational treatment program, MIK, influence the probation officers? professionalism and their professional role? 3) What advantages and disadvantages do the probation service officers consider MIK being related to? The method conducted in the study was interviews with five probation service officers in Stockholm. The interviews were combined with a theoretical framework based on themes as organization, professional role, professionalism and motivation. The result showed that probation officers consider themselves to have a relatively high discretion within their work.

University of ÖrebroDepartment of social SciencesSociology, Contnuation Course, 61-90hp.Essay 15hp. Spring 2008Title: Who is resbonsible? A soceityscientific discussion about burnout.Author: Emilie FuchsAbstractThe purpose with this essay is to do a critical comparation between two different perspectives, burnout as an individual problem and burnout as a social problem. The first perspective states that the individual itself is responsible for her sickness while the second perspective states that the society and foremost the labour market should work in order to prevent people from beeing burned out. With that purpose in mind I want to enlighten and hopefully bring up the topic for discussion.The essay is based upon the following questions:? How can you sociologically understand the labour market of today?? How can you understand burnout in an individual context?? How can you understand burnout in a social context?By studying and reading four books, I have presented the two different perspectives of burnout.

Research reports as PISA and PIRLS show that reading comprehension among Swedish students have deteriorated in recent years and that girls have better reading comprehension than boys. The basis for this study is Maj-Gun Johansson's reading comprehension test done during the four years between the years 2005-2008 in the seventh grade in a municipality in Sweden. The main purpose of this study is to examine reading literacy in terms of the influence of content and form of texts viewed from a gender perspective. The study is divided into two parts. The first part is a survey on local reading comprehension compared with results from a similar national text.

There have been significant changes in the agricultural sector during the past 20 years (Jordbruksverket, 2008). The development of today is towards deregulation and adaption to global market conditions. As farmers try to adapt to the changed and more competitive market conditions investments are often necessary (LRF Konsult et al, 2012). Loans to agriculture and forestry businesses have increased to record levels and debt has doubled over the past years. The financial turbulence of the past years has contributed to an increase of the meaningfulness and willingness of the banks to be able to understand and handle risks associated with agriculture and forestry (Breiding, 2010).

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.

In this qualitative study the authors explores, by studying several quality-development models what quality in leadership is. The models are: Total Quality Management; SIQ?s model for customer-oriented organizational development; the EFQM excellence model; the ISO 9000:2000 standard; and Six Sigma. These models will be compared from Deming?s list for upper management; the Situational Leadership Theory; and the Contingency Theory.

Mental illness is today the leading cause of long-term sick leave and insomnia, anxiety, depression and burnout are among the most common conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the stability of these conditions and how this is influenced by gender and age, as well as the extent to which these states are risk factors for each other. The participants were a random sample (n = 2336) from the general population in the age of 18-79 years. The results showed that stable illness was more common among women than men, and that stable illness decreased with aging. The stability itself was not affected by gender or age. Relations between the conditions were bidirectional and they constitute major risk factors for each other (odds ratios, OK = 2.37 to 6.46). The largest risk factor for a condition is, however, previous occurrence of the same problem. Previous burnout was found to be a significantly larger risk factor for future burnout than previous insomnia for future insomnia (OK = 9.63 and 5.74, respectively). The results suggest that insomnia, anxiety, depression and burnout, despite their differences, are similar regarding symptoms and underlying causes. The importance of early interventions to prevent comorbid conditions which are more complicated and more difficult to treat is emphasized..

The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender in Islam and Hinduism are described in textbooks for high school. The study was conducted using a qualitative content analysis and also using a feminist gender theory and postcolonial feminist theory. All textbooks are written or revised after 2011 when The Swedish National Agency for Educations? new curriculum came into force. Previous research in this area shows that it is most common that gender is treated in isolated parts within the chapters, but that there are textbooks that allows the gender perspective permeate the entire text.

This is a sociological jurisprudence study which focuses on "child perspective" in Law of Support and Service with Certain Functional Impairments, LSS. The purpose of the study was to clarify the meaning of child perspective in LSS and analyze it in relation to practice. The study was conducted with mixed strategies combining qualitative and jurisprudential methods. Both LSS and Law of Social Welfare, SoL, were studied. Social workers from dirrerent muncipalities in Sweden were interwiewed.

This thesis aims to describe how a fashion designer should balance art and commerce in order to succeed in the fashion industry. We aim to define the Swedish term KRÄDD, and sort out how a designer or CEO in the fashion business should relate to the term, as well as the balance between cultural and economic capital. We present theories of the origins and fluctuations of fashion, as well as social studies on cultural capital, and brand building. The study is made in a qualitative manner where the empirics consist of interviews with 13 respondents that have different positions in, and experience from the fashion industry, including designers, journalists, buyers, a CEO and a PR-professional. In our conclusion, we emphasize the need for a balance between cultural and economic capital in order to succeed as a fashion designer.

The aim of this study is to gain an increased knowledge and deeper understanding of compulsive gambling and its consequences in today?s society. Gambling addiction will be described and analysed by a selection of experts, therapists and people with an addictive gambling background. The basis of the empirical research has been undertaken by a qualitative design with interviews consisting of three fundamental themes. The research group of eight participants included four gamblers, two therapists and two specialists.