Prior studies have shown that earnings management can be used either to inform or to mislead investors about the future performance of a company. However, few studies have examined the impact of earnings management on forecasting return on equity (ROE). The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the ability to forecast next year's ROE is improved when taking earnings management, measured as discretionary accruals, into account. This is examined by comparing a forecast model that takes the magnitude of discretionary accruals into consideration with a model that does not. The study is based on companies that were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during 2002-2012.

This thesis primarily includes a study on whether companies can develop a mathematical activity that supports students' motivation in mathematics. The work was done together with Midroc Electro, a company that pays attention to the difficulty of recruiting and therefore was interested in investigating how the business world would be able to contribute.The thesis can be divided into three stages. The first part comprised by a exploration into research on student motivation regarding mathematics as well as numerous interviews with engineers to see how the research findings did fit with Midroc Electros reality. In these studies it became clear that the student who aims for a profession whose education or work requires math belongs to the group of students who primarily manage their studies in mathematics, that is, those that have the greatest motivation to work hard and complete their studies.Research information and interviews were compared and resulted in the thesis second part, Midroc Challenge. An activity where students primarily came to learn about the engineering profession and secondly how mathematics can be used in the engineering profession.

This study examines how management consulting firms work with business- and functional strategy and how these strategies are interrelated. More specifically we focus on business strategy (business unit level) and knowledge strategy (functional level) and whether these are aligned or not, i.e. whether strategic congruence exists.A number of recent studies have examined the importance of business strategy and knowledge strategy in management consulting firms separately, but few have pointed out the importance of the alignment between them. With this study we contribute to the strategic field of research with a model that describes how management consulting firms should work with their knowledge strategy given their business strategy. The model is developed through a synthesis between theories in the field of strategic congruence, business- and functional strategies and thereafter tested by an empirical case study of six management consulting firms.

Effects of Menstrual Cycle and Oral Contraceptives on Sport Performance During the menstrual cycle, there is a variation of the female steriod hormones estrogen and progestogen. These hormones has mainly reproduktive functions, but do also affect other physiological systems, which may have an influence on athletic performance. The use of oral contraceptives among female athletes matches the use among the general population. There is a concern among female athletes and there coaches weather oral contraceptives can affect the performance. The purpose of this litterature review is to determine the effect of the menstrual cycle and the use of oral contraceptives on athletic performance.

It is statutory that teachers shall document their student's development of knowledge in different subjects. The teachers employed by Sundbybergs municipality have been commissioned to do the documentation in the web-based electronic system Projekt- och Omdömesdatabasen, P.O.D.B. The purpose of this study was to investigate witch effect the IT-solution P.O.D.B has brought for the teachers in their task of student documentation. By conducting interviews and questionnaire studies I have been looking for answers to if the target achievements have increased by using the IT-solution, and if the teachers are aware of what they may or may not write about their students in the system. The conclusions I have been able to draw through my studies are that the teachers have accepted the commission to use P.O.D.B.

The aim of this study is, from a norm-critical approach, to find, investigate and analyse human representation in the visual culture of one preschool in order to understand if the children enrolled are represented or not. The research questions are: In what ways is there imagery of human representations in images and materials designed for play? What skin-colors and origins are dominant in the data collected?We carried out a qualitative study in the form of visual ethnography. This method allowed us to use a combination of different data collection tools such as photography and ethnographic field notes to collect our data. The photographs we took of images and material used for play, was then analysed through semiotic picture analysis.

According to earlier studies, men dominates the sports pages in Swedish newspapers. The gender balance is far from equal and the purpose of this thesis is therefore to look into how Swedish local and regional newspapers covered gender in their sports pages during the year of 2013. The study also examines the news values of men?s and women?s sports, whether there are any differences compared to previous studies and whether there are any differences across the country. The study uses a quantitative content analysis and the result is based on editorial material from six randomly selected newspapers in 18 randomly selected days.

The tomato is an important crop worldwide, and in recent years it has received great attention due to its rich content of carotenoids, which in studies indicate to have health benefiting properties. Many studies have been done in this area of research and in how to optimize the carotenoid content in tomatoes and tomato products. The objectives of this essay were to summarize present data in this field. The results were as follows:There are nine different carotenoids identified in tomatoes. Lycopene and ?-carotene are the ones that have been given the greatest attention.

Daily citizens are informed by the media about the environment and the climate changes. The schools purpose is to educate students according to events that are of current interest and take place in present time. According to Swedish curriculum, Lpf94, all Swedish education should include and discuss the problems surrounding durable development. The purpose of the study is to se how the textbooks in History, Social studies and Geography and their contents meet the demands of the curriculum. The study shows that only the textbooks in geography meets the demands that the curriculums have on durable development.

Uppsatsen syftar till att analysera politiska aktörers agerande för att framställa sin hållning inför folkomröstningen om kärnraften 1980 som trovärdig och rationell. Studien undersöker historiska källor i form av informationstätt opinionsmaterial samt statliga utredningar och propositioner med anknytning till folkomröstningen. Undersökningen är baserad på den teoribildning inom teknik- och vetenskapssociologi som kallas science and technology studies ? STS. Det analytiska verktyg som källmaterialet analyseras utifrån är begreppet energisäkerhet.

Inbreeding has become a problem in some horse breeds. Studies show that it may lead to inbreeding depression which affects e.g. reproduction traits. In the wild there are mechanisms that make horses avoid mating with close relatives. When selection is done by humans this mechanism is removed and intensive breeding for a few traits, for example good racing results, can become a problem.

Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur elever och deras bildlärare idag uppfattar bildämnet i en svensk skola samt lust som motivation. Ett socialt konstruktivistiskt samt progressivistiskt perspektiv på lärande och Peter Gärdenfors forskning om lust som motivation är denna studies teoretiska utgångspunkter. Den empiriska studien har pågått under fyra veckor på ett svenskt högstadium. Kvantitativa enkäter och kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med sex elever och två lärare. Resultatet från den empiriska undersökningen har analyserats och tolkats kvantitativt och kvalitativt.

The focus of Broken Conventions is experimental cinema, that big body of film existing outside the limiting boundaries of the mainstream cinema industries. The goal is to provide a broad view of this abstract and hard-to-define area of film studies, by searching for an answer to the question; what is experimental cinema and can it be viewed as a genre of its own? In doing so, I will explore the theoretical discourse surrounding the topic, as well as provide case studies of several experimental films. I will also suggest a genre theory, as a way of determining whether or not experimental cinema can be seen as a genre, but more importantly to use it as a way of further examining the individual films and to deepen the understanding of this type of film. The topic at hand is however extremely subjective and there is no generally accepted definition, or term for that matter, concerning what experimental cinema really is.

Purpose?This study has examined the information behaviour and perception of information in a group ofinformation users who have a critical approach to the media and the information supply. Some of them call themselvesor are being called conspiracy theorists. The purpose was to examine how their information behaviour is influenced by the belief that the information is biased or inaccurate and what the information behaviour looks like when the user searches for discrepancies rather than a response to a question.Method?The study is based on transcribed interviews and email responses to interview questions.

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that are affecting students at the Technology and Electricity- and energy programs in their choice of studies and vocation. The study is a comparative case study and quantitative method has been used in the form of questionnaires. The result shows that students do not like to be affected by another person but believes that they themselves have made their choice. Interest turns out to be the biggest influence factor of choice for both students at the Technology and Electricity- and energy program. For Electricity- and energy students have also access to work had some impact.The parents' education level was higher for Technician students and their parents worked with occupations requiring university degrees.