What kind of international actor is the European Union and how shall we define it? These are questions that many have tried to answer often by addressing the apparent uniqueness of the EU itself. One of these theories is Normative power Europe. A theory whose main argument is that the EU is best perceived as a changer of norms. My aim with this thesis is to test this claim and to see if the Union should be regarded as a normative power.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the development of profitability and capital structure in Swedish quoted companies during the period of 1990 to 2004. Further, the aim is to determine the relationship between profitability and leverage in order to conclude whether the choice of capital structure supports the pecking order theory or the trade-off theory of capital structure. The findings show that return on assets fluctuates between 3 and 11 percent and that return on equity fluctuates between 3 and 22 percent during the period. Further, the leverage and the cost of debt have decreased. This indicates lowered financial risk in Swedish quoted companies in the period between 1990 and 2004.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a difference between the respondent groups preparers and non-preparers position in IASBs question if a reversal of previously impaired goodwill should be prohibited. The background is an exposure draft sent out by the IASB and we examine the answers, in form of comment letters, sent in by the respondents to reach our purpose. Our method is positivistic in the sense that we study already existing theories when we create our hypothesis which gives our assumption about how the result of the respondent?s answers will be. Our data, which we have collected from the comment letters, is qualitative secondary data.

Bakgrund: Humanitära insatser i kris- och katastrofområden har en historia där sjuksköterskans roll är central. Att komma som sjuksköterska till ett krisdrabbat område med detta enorma ansvar och att jobba under flera veckor, ofta månader, i en ny miljö ställer enorma krav på sjuksköterskans kompetens. Även andra åtskilliga förmågor så som kulturell kompetens, ledar- och organisationsförmåga, samarbete och flexibilitet sätts på prov. Sjuksköterskan förväntas vägleda, dirigera och samordna de professioner som jobbar runt sjuksköterskan samtidigt som denne själv ska ansvara för andras säkerhet och omvårdnad. Detta i en värld där natur och människoskapade katastrofer ökat drastiskt de senaste åren.Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva utmaningar sjuksköterskor upplever under ett humanitärt uppdrag.Metod: Denna studie är en litteraturöversikt baserad på tio vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats.

SAAB Aerotech division FGR in Arboga builds and develops equipment and components used in both military and civilian applications. To build a test system for a specific project that SAAB is responsible for requires a simple signal generator that can provide a pulse modulated signal. The need to buy a new advanced signal generator for example from Agilent is not as profitable as the instrument is expensive and contains features that SAAB does not require in their applications and test systems. That was the reason why SAAB offers two students a thesis where the goal is to construct a signal generator in accordance with what SAAB requests.This thesis contains several different phases. The first step was a meeting with our supervisor Mats Bergman and by reading the data sheets for components to be used in the project, with these information and specifications that we have received from SAAB we started to construct the signal generator.What we did during the construction work was to simulate and draw a schematic to be able to design the circuit board.

The purpose of this study was to do a narrative survey of the discussion about violence in partner relationships that is held in research literature. The question at issue was: How do research literature discuss violence in partner relationships, with focus on heterosexual relationships? The eight primary documents that have been chosen are written by researchers, professional therapists, National Counsil for Women's protection (Nationellt Råd för Kvinnofrid, NRK) and Swedish Government Official Report (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, SOU). To investigate the theories, discover the similarities and differences between them and how they can complement each other, the documents statements has been analyzed with a dialectic-hermeneutic approach and social constructionism and discourse theory.The research findings showed that the gender perspective theory, the psychodynamic theory and the social psychology theory have a few things in common, but that they on the whole are different and contradict each other. The gender perspective theory dominates the discussion but needs to be combined with the other theories to give a more all-embracing understanding.

Changes in the society engender changes in the practice of the auditor profession. Stricter laws, more detailed recommendations, and demands from the auditor?s clients have increased. The auditor constitutes a profession and therefore it is important that there is a trust since the auditor is the one that certifies the quality of the company?s economical information.

Under tidigt 80-tal växte olika sorter av kommunikationsmodeller fram, bland annat Daft och Lengels, Media Richness Theory. Denna teori var baserad på den tidens kommunikationsmönster. Idag nästan 20 år senare har vi sett explosionsartad IT-utveckling vilket har medfört förändringar i det dagliga kommunikationsmönstret. I denna uppsats undersöker vi om Media Richness Theory fungerar på ny teknik med hänsyn till dagens utökade kommunikationsmetoder. Vi studerar bland annat användnings- och påverkningsmönster ur ett abduktivt perspektiv, det vill säga både kvalitativt och kvantitativt.

In today?s changing environment, creation of projects by organizations has become more common. The problem is, though, that the knowledge of the subject is still limited which causes many projects to fail. This has made it extra important to have a good project manager whocanlead the project in the right direction. While doing this both the project method and the project manager?s motivation are contributing sources.

Denna uppsats är tänkt som en introduktion till ämnet humor i landskapsarkitektur - ett ämne som ännu inte diskuterats i nämnvärd utsträckning. Den riktar ett särskilt fokus mot humorteorin Benign violation theory och undersöker om teorin kan användas i landskapsarkitektur. Först introduceras de tre tidigaste humorteorierna för att ge en bild av tre huvudsakliga modeller som finns för att förklara humor. Därefter presenteras Benign violation theory och enkätundersökningen som prövar dess applicerbarhet på landskapsarkitektur. Undersökningens resultat verkar tyda på att bilder som stämmer överens med teorins villkor verkligen uppfattas som roliga, men det finns stora felmarginaler och det råder behov av fler undersökningar i ämnet..

In 1936 a governmental breeding project was started with aim on military use. The police later came to use dogs from this project as well. In order to utilize dogs that could fit for other purposes training and education of dogs for search of different substances and of guide dogs for blind persons was performed. A political decision to privatize the whole dog programme was taken in 1992. During most part of the time one had serious economical issues since too few of the dogs that were bred could be considered to fulfil the basic demands for service. To satisfy the need of service dogs private bred dogs were bought as well.

This paper analyses what effect an application of a specific poststructural feminist theory has on the Swedish classification system SAB. The purpose is to study if it is possible to open up the current representation of gender towards a more multiple one. The study is both theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part include a short presentation of both classification theory and feminist theory. The study also presents the critic that poststructual feminists submit.

Denna studie beskriver innebörden i begreppen användbarhet och Activity Theory, samt hur den senare kan användas för att stärka utvecklingen av användbara webbplatser. Studien är genomförd ur ett utvecklarperspektiv. Resultatet av studien visar att användbarhet är en egenskap som uppstår i användandet av en artefakt, detta pekar både teori och empiri på. Studien visar också att Activity Theory kan användas på flera sätt för att stärka utvecklingen av användbara webbplatser. Vi anser att de resultat vi kommit fram till i vår studie gäller inte bara för utveckling av webbplatser utan de gäller även utvecklingen av informationssystem och informationsteknologi i en vidare utsträckning..

Med dagens snabba datorer och omfattande informationssystem kan automatiskaalgoritmer för beslutsstöd i komplicerade situationer konstrueras. I luftvärnet finns detredan s k hotutvärderare som har denna funktionalitet. I föreliggande uppsats ges enöverblick över den stridssituation dessa hotutvärderare skall hantera. Uppsatsen analyserarvidare vilka matematiska metoder som är lämpliga att använda för detta ändamål och hurde är kopplade till rådande doktrin..

The purpose of this study is to find the virtue ethics John Bunyan presents in Pilgrim´s Progress part 1, compared with the virtues Max Weber presents, and then try Weber´s theory on the empirical data, Pilgrim´s Progress. When I compare the virtues in Weber´s theory with the virtues in Pilgrim´s Progress, I interpret Weber´s theory as limited. From Weber´s theory emerges the puritan virtues: fulfillment of duty, struggle, self-control and live simply. He also mentions gratitude to God and helpfulness to other people, but this is shown through work in the society. These virtues can also be found in Pilgrim´s Progress.