The maintenance phase within software projects is typically very expensive in terms of resources. The activities of this phase are largely focused around some form of modification of program code. This leads one to consider if there are alternative methods of code production that results in code that allows for less costly modifications. This thesis has its basis in a subset of those concepts which research has shown to provide more flexible code. Once this subset is established, connections are made between the concepts within the subset and claims of benefits provided by the use of Test Driven Development (TDD) methodology.

The purpose of this thesis was to study Holmen?s possible future ownership, concerning their forestland in Sweden. We have compared the strategy of the present owning of forests with three different alternatives. These three alternatives are: 1) selling all the forestland, 2) establish a new company which owns the forest where Holmen is the major stockholder and finally 3) an alternative were the two northerly regions are sold. We used Holmen?s annual account from the year 2002 as a bare year and made a reconstruction of the annual account in the three different alternatives.

Background and research problem: The former highly inflationary property market is currently undergoing a stagnation process. Investors have been used to annual growth figures in double digits,but now this is no longer considered to be a realistic outlook for future years. According to a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Urban Land Institute, published by Avanza Wealth Management,the three most attractive markets for property investment in Europe are London, Paris and Stockholm. Because of this the authors have focused their investigation on two companies in the London andStockholm. The authors will additionally use an international bank, an estate agent and a consultancy firm for further information, with regards to the property market and risks associated with these typesof investment in particular.

International media groups and the freedom of speech are two issues that have been questioned during the last years when large media groups control a large amount of public-oriented information. The masters thesis at hand considers three debates that illuminate Bonniers and AB Mariebergs hereinafter referred to as the Bonnier Media Group positions on the media market. The objective of such a study is to establish in the face of the theory on hegemonia, for example from which factors the media actors deduce their argumentation when discussing the above-mentioned topic and the meaning of such a discussion in our time. The thesis also discusses whether freedom of speech and free opinion are affected by the increasing power of the Bonnier Media Group and if they, as a result, have diminished their own cultural and liberal assets, features that are firmly associated with the company. I conclude that various features have come to change the media market during the last years.

Mass distribution with techniques as multicast and peer-to-peer are becoming increasingly important in the Internet. Today the distribution of sound and video over Internet, so called streaming media, is static due to the unicast method. This results in a linear increase of distribution costs and therefore no conditions for commercial scalability. This thesis describes why multicast may be the only scalable alternative for commercial mass distribution of streaming media over Internet. Mass distribution through peer-to-peer technology promises a lot but is fronting a couple of great challenges, for example asymmetric bandwidth, locality and legalization.

Stressful routines for animal handling can reduce immune function and productivity of animals. If stakeholders are handling animals aversively, animals will show increased expressions of fear for humans and higher stress levels which lead to the compromise of animals? welfare. In Ethiopia, there are no legislations to protect animals from suffering or discomfort. The main objective of this study was therefore to analyse welfare of cattle on animal markets in Ethiopia and map out supply chains of animals to these markets.

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

Tourism is a growing industry that brings in a lot of money each year, range ofactivities increases and people travel more than ever before. More and more chooseto move from rural areas to larger towns, at the same time when people are travellingthey want to visit quieter places that can offer outdoor experiences in the nature. Thisis something that tourism businesses located in rural areas have a great advantage of.But when the range is large, it becomes important for firms to communicate with themarket, to make the tourists choose to visit them.The purpose of this study is to investigate which media channels and target groupsthat tourism businesses use and how they reflect on the importance of communicatewith the market. To find this out, interviews have been conducted with tree differententrepreneur, all located in Jämtland. The theory?s that has been used is strategiccommunication, public relations, market communication, media channels, socialmedia and target groups.The result shows that all companies think that thecommunication with the market is an important part in the work with the company.The communication gets the business a chance to be seen and it becomes more easilyto create relationships with the stakeholders.

Syfte: Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för hur samhällets och teknikens senaste utveckling har bidragit med nya marknadsföringskanaler och vad detta innebär för företags marknadsföringsstrategier. Med detta syfte som utgångspunkt har tre forskningsfrågor formulerats för att avgränsa forskningen än mer:Hur kan smartphones som marknadsföringskanal hjälpa företag att precisera sin marknadsföring till kunden?På vilket sätt har den nya mobila tekniken, i form av smartphones, påverkat företags segmenteringsmöjligheter?Hur kan ett företag använda sig av smartphones, som ett verktyg för att hantera kundrelationer?Metod: Uppsatsen är resultatet av en kvalitativ studie med en huvudsaklig induktiv inriktning. Primärdatainsamlingen har skett genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer.Slutsats: Efter att ha undersökt detta ämne har vi dragit slutsatsen att valet av smartphones som kanal kan hjälpa företag att precisera sin marknadsföring genom att telefonen är tillgänglig och personlig för kunden. Därför menar vi att kunders integritet och acceptans kommer att vara avgörande faktorer och viktiga att beakta.

With the expansion of the internet, the conditions for the online journalists have changed. Feedback is faster and more blatant than offline. The online abilities of anonymity and dispersion attracts people to both use and misuse. During 2013, the online expressions of hate towards women has been brought to attention in the media more than ever before. Nevertheless, the phenomenon is far from new.Our qualitative research including interviews intends to find out how the afflicted women journalists are affected in their exercise of their profession.

This report present a working model for simulation of what happens to colors displayed on screens when they are observed through optical filters. The results of the model can be used to visually, on one screen, simulate another screen with an applied optical filter. The model can also produce CIE color difference values for the simulated screen colors. The model is data driven and requires spectral measurements for at least the screen to be simulated and the physical filters that will be used. The model is divided into three separate modules or steps where each of the modules can be easily replaced by alternative implementations or solutions.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to explore how the media through a certain discourse constructs a view of the labor market and the power relations between companies, unions and employees. The goal is to explore this through studying the media coverage of SAS? financial situation between September-December 2012 and our research question is the following: What view of the labor market and its power relations was constructed and reproduced by Swedish newspapers through their portrayal of SAS during September-December 2012?Method: This study analyses the findings with the help of questions based on theories of social constructivism, discourse, agenda-setting and power. A content and discourse analysis was compiled of 360 articles from five Swedish newspapers that addressed SAS and their situation from September-December 2012. The results of these analyses were further processed using power analysis and John Gaventa?s power cube.Results: In this study we conclude that the medial discourse constructs identities of the different actors and affect power relations between them, in favor of the company.

People are constantly using there friends in order to ask for a favor or to get hold of some information. This is usually done unconsciously and it is just viewed as everyday life behavior. The function and the use of these links definitely have a value, which means that it can be viewed as a form of capital. But this capital is not caught in the traditional theories of physical capital or human capital; it demands it?s on theorization.

The aim of our study was to examine how Swedish journalists use the three social networks Facebook, Twitter and blogs to find news. We wanted to study which group of journalists that were using these networks most frequently and why. We also wanted to find out which of the three networks they use the most.We made a questionnaire which we sent out by e-mail to 400 Swedish journalists. 215 of them participated in our study.We analyzed the results of the responses from the questionnaire and discussed patterns and relations between them.The study establishes that the majority of the respondents believe that the networks are very useful and effective in their work.Our results show that out of the three social networks the journalists who participated in our study prefer to use blogs as sources in their line of work, as they are full of information from individuals and contain unique facts and stories.Alongside the results we discussed how social networks might be used in the future of journalism. Most of the respondents are aware of the possibility that they may need to increase the usage of them eventually, and that they will be an important part of the journalistic work process in the future. .

Title: Have IFRS made the accounting more efficient for investors? ? A study of goodwill-relevance Level: Final assignment for Degree of Master (One Year)Author: Patrik Nygard and Andreas Pettersson       Supervisor: Markku Penttinen            Date: 2010 ? MayAim: The Swedish banks SEB and Swedbank are on the same market but their goodwill is amortized totally differently and its results will be different. We decided to examine the accounts in Sweden and see if they have been more efficient, from a user perspective, after the introduction of IFRS in year 2005Method:  This paper is made from a quantitative and a deductive approach. We have collected data from all companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between the years 2002-2008 using the computer program Financial Datastream and then made the regression and other analyses and comparisons with the program MinitabResult & Conclusions: We have in this paper demonstrated that how the accounting of goodwill designed is relevant to investors and that this relevance has increased in Sweden after the transition to IFRS. We have also concluded that the goodwill has greater relevance in a rising market than in a downward.Suggestions for future research: In future researches can the aim be to compare other accounting standards changes that occurred in the year 2005 and see if the accounting, from that perspective been more efficient.Contribution of the thesis: We have shown how the account influences investor?s decisions during different accounting systems and in particular how they react on the changed account of goodwill.