The composition of the board of directors and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are two widely researched subject and discussed by the media. This study aims to examine the impact of the board of directors' composition on CSR performance among the largest companies listed on Nasdaq OMX stock exchange 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. A linear regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship and evidence is found that board attributes have an effect on CSR performance. Among these; the size of the board, outside directors and employee representatives all have a positive impact on environmental performance. Furthermore; female, outside directors and employee representatives have a positive impact on social performance.

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate whether a higher income make individuals more likely to exceed the speed limit. In addition to income the variables age, sex, perception of the speed of the average driver and offense history for the last three years are taken into account.The method used is based on a survey performed at the mandatory annual motor-vehicle inspection (Bilprovningen). 177 individuals were asked to participate, of these, 124 completed the survey which in turn left us with 117 usable observations.The analysis is based on two forms of regression, a linear regression and an ordered logit regression to confirm the results for the ordinal data.The final model indicates a result where income and age are statistically significant. Sex is considered insignificant for our data material and is excluded from the model. Age has a negative effect on the propensity to exceed the speed limit while income has a positive effect.

The most predominant method for forest harvesting in Sweden is the cut-to-length method based on two-machines, a harvester that fells trees and cut them in a predefined length, and a forwarder which transports logs to a landing area for further transport to a processing facility. New machine solutions have to be much gentler to the ground than today?s machines. To be able to develop a forestry machine that preserves the terrain requires a proper understanding of the interaction between tire and soil.The goal of the project is to contribute to the existing knowledge of forest machine tire-soil interaction and to develop a tire-soil model that enables dynamic simulations of forest machines operating in rough terrain. The modeling has especially been focused on the interaction between tires and soft ground.A comparison of theoretical data of different WES-based terrain interaction models and a comparison test data from a full scale field test is presented.

Den här rapporten har utrett möjligheten att automatiskt identifiera diken frånflygburet insamlat LiDAR-data. Den metod för identifiering som har valts harförst skapat en höjdbild från LiDAR-data. Därefter har den tagit fram kandidatertill diken genom att vektorisera resultatet från en linjedetektering. Egenskaper-na för dikeskandidaterna har sedan beräknats genom en analys av höjdprofilerför varje enskild kandidat, där höjdprofilerna skapats utifrån ursprungliga data.Genom att filtrera kandidaterna efter deras egenskaper kan dikeskartor med an-vändarspecificerade mått på diken presenteras i ett vektorformat som underlättarvidare användning. Rapporten beskriver hur algoritmen har implementerats ochpresenterar också exempel på resultat.

This thesis investigates the possibilities offered to a working landscape architect by anincreased and altered use of digital 3D environments. A basic assumption is that increased useof digital three-dimensional environments promotes the creative processes and presentationoptions of landscape architects.The thesis is based on literature studies and communication with working landscapearchitects, and includes an investigation of the visualization methods available in the Blender3D modelling software. The thesis provides a thorough survey of what it means to model inthree dimensions, as well as of what modelling methods are feasible for a landscape architectto use. As landscape architects, we work with human and unique processes, and thus it isdifficult to develop standardized and automatic software for our profession. One possiblesolution is to turn to open source development, where software and models are shared andanyone can contribute.

The purpose of this report is to investigate the possibilities with drain water heat recovery (DWHR) in residential buildings. Information and relevant theory has been collected and summarized in this report. Calculations have been done for given scenarios to evaluate profits. DWHR heat exchangers use simple technology and have long life-time. The heat exchanger is connected to outgoing drainage pipe and incoming cold-water supply so countercurrent flow is accomplished.

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.

This thesis aims to investigate if there are any differences in the value relevance of yearly earnings announcements before (2000-2004) and after (2005-2009) IFRS were implemented for listed companies in the European Union. To assess the value relevance of earnings, an earnings response coefficient (ERC) is estimated using a linear OLS-regression model. The regression model uses accounting earnings per share as the explaining variable, with the corresponding return starting from (but not including) the previous year's earnings announcement date, ending at (and including) the current earnings announcement date, as the dependent variable. This study finds that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimated ERCs for the two periods. Although no statistically significant difference is found, data shows that the R2-values, which measure the explanatory power of the regressions, are higher for the period before IFRS.

This study attempts to explore how schools? handles and prevents cyber-bullying among pupils. The purpose in this study was to investigate how the school staffs work in secondary schools with grades sixth to ninth. How do the schools discover, prevent and stop cyber-bullying? Do the schools? have any experiences of cyber-bullying? How do the schools work with anti-bullying concepts ? have the new phenomenon cyber-bullying affected and changed the schools´ anti-bullying work in connection with the guidelines and in relation to the "new technology"? This study attempts to examine how this is handled within several secondary schools with three different municipalities.

This report describes the construction process and the aspects that should be taken into consideration. It includes models of decision and how these can be used in practice. Planning of a building project is very important for a successful execution. This will be the foundation of problems that will occur during the production. In the planning process people with different positions, search for the best suitable building methods.

By conducting interviews, studies as well as scanning the current scientific landscape, this paper examines the opportunities of increasing current capacity within the public transportation system in Stockholm with simple financial means for the benefit of the travelers. The paper focuses on the central station of the subway system and how adjustments of processes carried out in relation to the turnstiles could increase performance within areas of interest, given the preferences of the travelers. The theoretical framework of the paper includes models from the field of capacity management as well as theories related to the pedestrian behavior. Applying these theories and models to the collected data, the paper derives some main conclusions. First of, people using the public transportations system, and especially the subway, consider speed and dependability as the most important performance objectives for the caretakers of the public transportation system, SL and MTR to master.

The plants in the genus Elatine are characteristic for oligo and mesotrophic lakes. This study focuses on Elatine hexandra one of the four species in Sweden. It is stated as vulnerable by the National Environment Agency and a conservation plan with guidelines to preserve the plant in Sweden is under preparation. There have been a few previous studies investigating this plant in other countries but this is the first one for Sweden. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution, growth and reproduction of E.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of joint venture announcements on stock prices behavior and simultaneously to test the German stock market (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) for efficiency. We tried not only to analyze the general impacts of a JV-announcement but also to look for differences in the market response to announcements of different types of joint ventures, namely: domestic, international, horizontal and vertical. Our expectations of efficient market were confirmed during our paper, which employed the technique of the standard event study. The calculation of abnormal returns which are the signals for market efficiency or inefficiency respectively were based on the market model, establishing linear relationship between the return on the market and the return on an individual security. The parameters of the model were obtained through regression analysis..

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.

Business Intelligence (BI) is a competitive concept for enterprises to consider. The concept is based on the idea of using business data in order to effectively analyze activities within an enterprise in order to enhance decision processes in the organization.The purpose with this study is to help Akademibokhandeln AB to analyze what BI-requirements they may have, and to create a recommendation on what sort of BI-tool that would fit the enterprise's needs.The requirements analysis was conducted with the help of internal personnel. Four different tools on the BI-market have been examined, analyzed and compared: IBM Cognos 8 (IBM Cognos), Microstrategy 9 (MCST), Qlikview 9 (Qlikview), and SAP Business Objects BI (SAP BO). These tools have been compared with the help of two models (BRI and BCI) that is based on the BI-requirements analysis, with the cost aspect taken into consideration in the BCI-model.Using the BRI-model, the comparison results in a technical evaluation. Here, IBM Cognos gets the highest result just ahead of MCST and SAP BO.