It is a common view that companies should focus on building brands to increase profitability and stabilize cash flows. However, building and keeping brands alive is costly. Many firms spend large sums on branding only because they are supposed to, without knowing if they will actually gain from it. Up to date, there is limited convincing evidence that branding actually contributes to shareholder value creation. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between brand strength and profitability and shareholder value.

Minimizing power consumption is a critical part of many embedded design projects. Thechallenge is to limit the power consumption of the system and at the same time providesatisfactory service to the user. With regards to microprocessors, the main way of limiting powerconsumption during program execution is to adjust the frequency and the voltage at which theprocessor operates.To enable the implementation of real-time scheduling with support for dynamic voltage andfrequency scaling, an exhaustive study of the Freescale i.MX31 embedded microprocessor isperformed. Specifically, the power consumption relationship to all relevant frequency andvoltage settings is investigated. In addition, to enable frequency and voltage scaling in a real-timeenvironment, a complete timing analysis of proposed voltage and frequency scaling methods isperformed and their suitability for use in real-time systems is evaluated.To integrate voltage and frequency scaling capability into OSE RTOS, a software module hasbeen developed for this operating system.

Background: Pressure ulcers are a common problem and cause great suffering for those who develop it, and are also an expensive cost to the society. Aim: To describe nursing measures for prevention of pressure ulcers among elderly people in ordinary and nursing homes. Method: A literature review by structured analyze of scientific articles. Result: The analyze resulted in six subjects for prevention of pressure ulcers. These subjects were; risk assesment, nutrition, repositioning, skin/hygiene, nurse knowledge and documentation.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify power structures and instruments of power within the Jehovah?s witnesses and investigate how they affect the baptized youths baptized within the organization. The material consists of qualitative in-depth interviews and is analyzed with Foucault's theories of power. The results show that the participants have a very strict relationship to the rules of the congregation and also that they take great care in observing these rules carefully. It becomes evident that young members are exposed to disciplinary measures from the organization.

Internet and information technology today has a rather obvious role in the activities of companies and organizations. All cash transactions within and between companies is digitized, communication within the company is done via e-mail, sales and marketing is done largely with marketing and ads on the Internet. This has resulted in economic benefits for companies and organizations, and facilitated the work for them. However, this has also led to new threats have emerged. Companies and organizations is well aware that there are numerous threats that comes with using the Internet and Information Technologies but exactly what those threats are for a mid-sized company in Sweden is not clarified anywhere.

This paper aims to provide a description of how knowledge can occur in Apoteket AB, anorganization that is operating on the Swedish pharmacy market. The purpose of this paper isalso to describe how the organizational learning occurs in the organization, and how theoutcome of this learning can be stored in the organizational memory. This subject is ofinterest since Apoteket AB experience changes in their external environment in that they nolonger have monopoly to sell pharmaceuticals on the Swedish pharmacy market. Earlierresearch claims that organizations need to develop new knowledge in order to take action, andthis development needs to be supported by the management within the organization.The collection of primary data was done by two qualitative interviews with employees withinthe organization of Apoteket AB.Our conclusions are that knowledge can occur in many forms, such as tacit and explicitknowledge. The vast majority of the knowledge within the organization is the information thatcan be found in the electronic database Aponet within Apoteket AB, and that is useful for theemployees in their daily work, and therefore is known as explicit knowledge.

The purpose of the study is to explore the internal implementation and communication of ecological sustainability within an organization and to identify obstacles and challenges that may arise. To address the study's purpose and research questions, a qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews were used. Respondents were selected from two different units within a large global organization operating in the automotive industry. The study's findings indicate that the organization's sustainability efforts are extensive and integrated across several departments. It is also evident that sustainability initiatives are primarily driven by upper management within the organization, although there is room for lower hierarchical levels to provide some feedback.

When drivers overnight in the truck lots of electric energy is consumed by heaters, fans, lights and other extra equipment. If the engine is not running, this energy is taken from the lead/acid batteries of the truck which then needs to be recharged during operating hours. The fact that the charge acceptance of the lead/acid batteries is dependent on the temperature makes it hard to fully recharge the batteries at lower temperatures. A negative charge balance can lead to starting problems within a few days use in cold climate.In this thesis work, the effects of different battery charging concept are evaluated on the most common Scania battery (175Ah). A battery model is implemented in Matlab and some simulations of charging are made.

Since January 2005 new rules have been introduced from the International Financial Reporting Standards for accounting of Business Combinations. Goodwill, which is the difference between the purchase price and the value of the net assets in an acquired firm, should no longer be amortized but should instead be treated as an object for yearly impairment tests. Nevertheless, there are many companies making the tests but not impairing goodwill. The theoretical frame of reference looks at goodwill from its two parts; true goodwill and false goodwill. False goodwill is defined as a measurement bias and constitutes a certain percentage of the operating net assets.

Vårdtagare med demenssjukdom uppvisar ofta beteendemässiga och psykiska symptom vid demens, (BPSD). Syftet med denna studie var att utforska litteratur om sjuksköterskans omvårdnadsåtgärder vid BPSD. Vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder kan sjuksköterskan använda sig av och vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder har mest effekt vid BPSD? Det material som användes var elva vetenskapligt granskade studier som var inriktade på vårdtagare med olika beteendemässiga och psykiska symptom vid demens (BPSD). Kvalitetsgranskning gjordes med hjälp av kvantitativ och kvalitativ granskningsmall. Resultatet delades in i Sociala åtgärder, Musik som åtgärd, Aromaterapi och Beröring som åtgärder, samt Hygienåtgärder.

Trycksår kan förekomma på alla typer av vårdavdelningar och tar lång tid att läka samt är en stor kostnad för samhället. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att undersöka åtgärder för trycksårsprevention. Metoden är baserad på en modifierad version av Forsberg & Wengströms modell för en systematisk litteraturstudie. Sökning i databaser PubMed och CINAHL utfördes och resultatet i litteraturstudien grundades på nio kvantitativa vetenskapliga artiklar. Författarna kunde identifiera olika preventionsåtgärder där framför allt evidensbaserade bedömningsinstrument som Modifierad Nortonskala och MNA-SF är viktiga att använda i trycksårsprevention, men även temperaturmätning, ?Continental anal plug? (CAP), god nutrition, aktivitet samt tryckreducerande underlag som fårskinn..

För att ett belöningssystem ska fungera för alla parter i en organisation krävs det att det är genomtänkt och väl implementerat. Det måste leva upp till ledningens krav, som att behålla och attrahera värdefull personal och få denna att arbeta i företagets önskade riktning. Belöningssystemet måste också uppmuntra till självtänkande och flexibilitet för att få det lilla extra av personalen och det är viktigt att det är rätt prestationer som belönas. Det måste vara enkelt för de anställda att se vilka mål de ska uppfylla och att förstå vilken prestation som belönas. Det är viktigt att sätta gränser för belöningssystemet, som man kan se i vårt fallföretag där man har chans att få större bonus ju högre upp i organisationen man befinner sig.

SAMMANFATTNING Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på vad sjuksköterskan upplever som sitt inre etiska ansvar samt lyfta fram och reflektera över den etiska dimensionen i omvårdnaden. Studien är empirisk och grundar sig på en kvalitativ metod med innehållsanalys. Data har samlats in från fyra intervjuade verksamma allmänsjuksköterskor. Forskningen anknyter till Katie Erikssons omvårdnadsteori samt till Iréne von Post. Etiken hos de intervjuade sjuksköterskorna förknippades till stor del utifrån ett medicinskt perspektiv.

Fleets have the ability to affect an adversary?s use of the seas for transportation. Nations have in numerous occasions exercised this power in order to ravage their opponent?s trade in times of conflict with the purpose of diminishing their military might. Great naval thinkers like Mahan and Corbett have described this use of seapower during conflicts in great depth but theories regarding the use of seapower to affect a nation?s peacetime economy in order to achieve limited political goals is lacking.

This master?s degree project concerns the combination of a multi dwelling passive house with solar energy for the generation of electricity and domestic hot water (DHW). Different alternatives with either solar thermal systems or photovoltaic (PV) systems are compared with two reference alternatives producing DHW from electricity or district heating. The economical comparison uses a life cycle cost (LCC) perspective based on the present value of expenditures for investment, energy and annual operating and maintenance.The energy yields from the solar energy systems were calculated by hand and with simulation software. Calculation and dimensioning of PV systems were carried out with a software called PVSYST.