This essay discusses and evaluates the international currency market in regards to efficiency. To prove the theory that, the difference between expected and actual exchange rates is explained by the difference in expected and actual interest rates and the difference in expected and actual inflation between countries, a model was developed. This model was inspired by the paper of Sebastian Edwards (1982), and is based on three theories; UIP, IS/LM and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis. The model uses 16 regressions estimated from three pairs of curriencies: $/SEK, £/SEK and ?/SEK.

The aim of this study was to examine if performance-based self-esteem, personality (Type A), perceived stress, age and gender predict the value of own or others life-stress (VLS). The aim was also to examine whether the variables were correlated significantly with each other. The investigation was conducted in a town in the mid-south of Sweden. The instrument consisted of two forms where the first measured Type A personality and the second tapped perform-ance-based self-esteem, perceived stress and the level of life-stress. The results showed that the level of life-stress could explain, on the basis of the predictors, performance-based self-esteem, personality (Type A), perceived stress, age and gender.

The purpose of this master thesis is to map and analyze the appropriate valuation approaches used for Intellectual Property rights and develope a model for valuing patents. This project has been executed on behalf of Electrolux?s Group Intellectual Property and is intended to be used for managerial purposes.Project limitations include patents that doesent concern technology oriented products and services, real option methods, financial forecasts, decisions concerning patents taken by the R&D division, patent applications in general and taking into account unexpected future management decisions regarding patents.Electrolux?s Intellextual Property team applies, manages and protects the groups Intellectual Property rights including patents, designs and trademarks. With an increased globalization and the rise of emerging markets, incentives have increased further to protect and safeguard the group?s innovations.Mainly there are three different valuations approaches for valuing intellectual property rights, these include the income based approach, cost base approach and market based approach.

The banking industry is a fundamental part of the economy in Sweden. Despite its importance, the competition and the concentration level within the Swedish banking sector is relatively unexplored. This paper aims to examine the development of the concentration level in the Swedish banking sector during a period of ten years, 2003 to 2013. The examined banks in the study are the four largest banks in Sweden; Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB and Swedbank, and four selected niche banks, ICA banken, Ikano Bank, Länförsäkringar Bank and Skandiabanken. In order to examine the development in percentage change, there are six selected variables; loans, deposits and borrowings (both public and households), net interest income and return on equity, which are observed during a period of ten years.

With increasing wine consumption and a growing assortment at available to Swedish consumers, there is an interest in understanding the decision making process of Swedish wine consumers. In this thesis the expert phenomenon is studied with respect to wine through wine critic reliability: grading objectivity, understanding the process of wine criticism and possible critic influence on consumer behavior. Two studies were performed; a qualitative in-depth session of interviews with industry connoisseurs and a quantitative analysis of 589 online wine reviews. Our results indicate that wine reviews are highly subjective and defy prediction through analysis of external variables. Critics are likely to judge differently based on what information they have at hand, suggesting that expectations affect grading.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity and perceived stress, energy and musculoskeletal disorders among office-workers and warehouse-workers and also to see if there were any differences depending on work-place and gender. The method that was used to collect data was three different validated questionnaires that measured stress and energy (the Stress-Energy questionnaire), musculoskeletal disorders (intensity and localization of pain, a Pain Drawing questionnaire with a VAS-scale) and physical activity (IPAQ ? the short version). Eighty-eight workers participated in the study. Forty-seven of them were office-workers and forty-one were warehouse-workers.

The aim of this essay is to study the development of democracy in the Halland province, with focus on participating measures. First and foremost to test earlier research about the causes of the development of democracy, which says that the work takes place with obvious variation between the municipalities and that it is caused by economic resources and experienced problems in the democracy. The purpose is also to conduct a general discussion about the conditions and effects of the development.Thus the method can be characterised as theory consuming because I as far as possible assume the method that has been used in earlier research. Still, my study is limited to the six municipalities of the Halland province and is therefore a study of few cases. One person in each municipality has been interviewed in order to collect a list of all the measures that have been carried out.

This retrospective study aimed to examine differences at age fivebetween twenty-six internationally adopted and twenty-six Swedish-bornchildren with cleft lip and palate regarding age of surgery, speech andintervention. Correlation between age of surgery and speechvariables andgender differences was examined. Blind assessment of audio recordedsentence repetition or naming of words was performed by two speechpathologists. Soft palate was closed significantly later for the study groupthan the control group. Age at closure of hard palate did not differ.

This paper is a morphological structure-analysis of icelandic tales to determine their common and distinguishable components in relation to one another and to the russian folktale with Vladimir Propp?s book Morphology of the Folktale (1968) as theoretical basis. The paper looks at the Poetic Edda and Njals saga and the functions of the actions for each other and for the story as a whole. Although the icelandic tales shows great similarities with the russian folktale in general, it also shows deviations. The functions have sometimes appeared on inverted positions, and in a full third of the stories the evil has won over the good in a crucial struggle, but has in 90 % of these stories still been punished before the end.

In 1994 the EU directive of packaging waste was adopted. The result was that all EU member states developed different systems to manage packaging waste and recycling. This paper examines the various systems and the factors that affect the level of recycling. This is done by a cross-sectional study between countries. The results of my study suggest that take-back system generates less recycling than other systems, the mandatory deposit system can affect the recycling in a positive way.

Title: Youth unemployment- A study of the tax effect on youth unemployment in 13 European industrial countries Seminary date: 2009-02-06 Course: NEK691 ? Bachelor thesis, 15 p Author: Emma Jonsson Tutor: Klas Fregert Keywords: Youth unemployment, tax, 13 European industrial countries, panel data, multiple regression analysis. Purpose: The purpose is to examine the reasons behind youth unemployment with a special focus on tax policy. Method: By using a multiple regression analysis examined with panel data from 13 European industrial countries for the period 1998 to 2004. The dependent variable youth unemployment is explained by five independent variables.

Depression in young adults is a serious condition causing serious suffering for the victim. By finding risk factors for depression the opportunity for early preventive action is increased, which, in turn, may prevent a negative course. Two risk factors which have been shown to be related to depression are shame and rejection. Therefore this study examined the relationship between shameproneness, rejection sensitivity, shame-related events and depressive symptoms. The self-report questionnaires used were TOSCA, RSQ, Shaming index and BDI-II.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity and perceived stress, energy and musculoskeletal disorders among office-workers and warehouse-workers and also to see if there were any differences depending on work-place and gender. The method that was used to collect data was three different validated questionnaires that measured stress and energy (the Stress-Energy questionnaire), musculoskeletal disorders (intensity and localization of pain, a Pain Drawing questionnaire with a VAS-scale) and physical activity (IPAQ ? the short version). Eighty-eight workers participated in the study. Forty-seven of them were office-workers and forty-one were warehouse-workers.

The use of environmental management systems, and objectives-led corporate management have become a widespread phenomenon today. Identification and assessment of an organisation?s significant (environmental) aspects is crucial within this work. Identification and especially assessment of significant aspects is often considered as a problematic step in many organisations. There are no generally accepted methods how to undertake this crucial step.

Abstract:Title: The popular blog ? on updating and its effects on vistor statisticsNumber of pages: 35Author: Wilhelm von SydowTutor: Else NygrenCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Autumn 2006University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: To examine to which, if any, extent the update frequency of blogs affects their visitor statistics.Material/Method: Quantitative method, Swedish blogs, visitor statistics and updating frequency.Main results: No results could prove the causal effects of the relation between visitor statistics and updating frequency. A noticeable connection between the two variables could, however, be identified.Keywords: Blog, update frequency, visitor statistics, quantitative, Habermas, public sphere, Else Nygren, intranet, Matt Haig, business websites.