Common wisdom dictates that because payment of dividends decreases funds available for investment, a high payout ratio is to be associated with low earnings growth. This notion has been challenged in recent years by empirical research that has found a positive relationship between payout ratio and future earnings growth, both on the aggregated market level and the company level in different countries. This study investigated the aforementioned relationship on the Swedish market by statistically analyzing future earnings growth as a function of payout ratio on a large sample of publicly listed companies over the period 1980 to 2011. The results are in line with those found in previous research and indicate that companies with high dividend payout ratio tend to experience strong future earnings growth. The results are robust to the presence of mean reversion, the use of an alternative accounting measure of earnings, non-symmetrical earnings growth cycles and alternative practices for dealing with outliers..

This thesis aims to develop proposals and models for a modular electronics construction to a future D250S Dual battery charger. The aim also includes investigation of possibilities to use some of Texas Instruments C2000 microprocessors. The reason for this is that CTEK SWEDEN AB wants to renew the present D250S Dual battery charger and lower the manufacturing costs. The thesis work has involved gathering theoretical facts for the development of a design on the modular electronic construction, the choice on which microprocessor to use, the choice of electronic components and facts about peripheral equipment to the D250S Dual. With the theoretical there has been developed different solutions to the proposed hardware and software solutions with comparisons in aspects of positive and negative.

This paper is a qualitative study of the pedagogical conditions and the knowledge necessary for the creation and development of an education regarding leadership in the field of amateur theatre.The purpose of the study has been for participants to reflect and create knowledge about the creation and implementation of a course for leaders of amateur theatre.Questions raised in the study concern the students? previous experience of drama, theatre and leadership; their desire to become leaders of theatre; their own view of their need for knowledge for their future leadership; their understanding of the contents of the education and the theoretical perspectives upon which a course in theatre leadership can build. Finally, the participants? perceptions of difficulties and possibilities of working as theatre leaders were investigated.All 13 participants have answered a questionnaire regarding their previous experience of drama, theatre and leadership and also about why they want to become theatre leaders. The participants have also taken part in four focus conversations regarding what they think they learned, how they value the knowledge they gained and what knowledge they feel will be needed in a future leadership.The data has been analyzed hermeneutically to find patterns in the participants? perceptions of their learning.

Abstract This report is our bachelor thesis. Our work has taken place at a galvanising company in Sölvesborg. The company faced major changes, of which one was a computerisation process. The new system could involve changes in work practice and in specific tasks, affecting the workers. If the coming system was to support work, from the production personnel?s perspective, we felt a legitimate participation in the development and design of the future work practice, was a requirement that was not met. During our ethnographical studies we noted that conflicts arose between production and administrative -personnel.

In the year 1783 a fissure eruption from Laki in the southern part of Iceland produced a large amount of volcanic gases during a period of eight months. The volcanic gases and aerosols spread across the northern hem sphere due to ideal weather conditions and had a substantial impact on the environment, human health and also climate effects. This, so called dry fog, caused severe health problems, which led to death casualties, killing animals, crops and other vegetation. The consequence was a widespread famine which was aggravated by a hard and long winter in 1783/84. Analysis shows that the Icelandic volcanoes are the primary risk to produce dry fog that can affect Sweden.

The aim of this Master thesis is, from a sociocultural perspective, to investigate the views the teaching librarians at Södertörn University Library (SHB) have on learning, information literacy, and their own pedagogical role, and how their views affect user education and their ideas about the future of user education.The research questions used were: How do the teaching librarians view learning? How is this view reflected in their work with user education? How do the teaching librarians envisage user education in the future, and how do they work to reach that goal?Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teaching librarians at SHB. The interviews were then analysed using qualitative content analysis.The results of the study show that the teaching librarians at SHB share a sociocultural view on learning, and take a communicative oriented approach to user education. They believe that communication and interaction support learning, and in the classroom they stimulate discussions both between librarian and student, and between the students themselves. In the future, they hope for improved collaboration between librarians and academic staff, and that user education will become a natural element of the curriculum..

This paper investigates how students in the humanities in four universities in Sweden reflect on their education and the current view on the humanities as an education and a science. I want to investigate what impact the past few years public debate about the humanities have had on the students. What kind of beliefs and identities do the students of the humanities form and how do they discuss the universities, the choices they made in life and how do they feel about the future.This study is based on interviews with seventeen students in Sweden from four different universities. The research is also based upon a report that The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) published in 2011 and the debate following that report. I have also made participant observations on the four universities to make a broader description for the reader.

Risk- och beredskapsfrågor är idag mycket aktuella inom olika verksamheter. Studien undersökte hur barnomsorgspersonal i Örebro betraktade risk och beredskap i arbetet samt hur känslan av sammanhang (KASAM) samt arbetsrelaterade faktorer som krav, kontroll och stöd påverkade dessa upplevelser. Studien baserades på enkäter byggda på frågeformulären QPS-Nordic 34+, 13 frågors KASAM samt egna frågor. 53 personer deltog. Resultatet visade att den upplevda beredskapen var god i förhållande till den upplevda risken.

Risk- och beredskapsfrågor är idag mycket aktuella inom olika verksamheter. Studien undersökte hur barnomsorgspersonal i Örebro betraktade risk och beredskap i arbetet samt hur känslan av sammanhang (KASAM) samt arbetsrelaterade faktorer som krav, kontroll och stöd påverkade dessa upplevelser. Studien baserades på enkäter byggda på frågeformulären QPS-Nordic 34+, 13 frågors KASAM samt egna frågor. 53 personer deltog. Resultatet visade att den upplevda beredskapen var god i förhållande till den upplevda risken.

People born 1940-1949 will be more demanding regarding help from the elder care than previous generations. The explanation often proposed is that people born in the 1940?s grew up after the Second World War when cultural changes took place in society. The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the social needs of people born in the 1940?s today, in order to make cautious assumptions about what type of social needs elder care is likely to face in the future, when the older people becomes in need of elder care.

In this project a washing station has been constructed for Albany International AB. At present, there is no existing system to clean the dirty pipes that are coming back to the company.The work followed the product development process, and it started with the requirements list. This was followed by brainstorming, evaluation and completion.The result was a concept for de present time and one concept for the future.The present concept is intended to be built immediately. This is an adjustable bench with sliding bearings to facilitate the work. The actual cleaning is done with a high pressure washer that uses hot water.

The purpose of this study is to get an understanding about how municipalities in Sweden integrate climate-change into the social planning; especially the risk of flooding. To get a good picture of the planning process, background about the following are given; flooding, social planning and protective measures that can be taken against flooding. Three municipalities in the south of Sweden is studied; Halmstad, Vellinge and Kristianstad. They have in their work progressed differently and Kristianstad is the municipality that already has taken measures to protect themselves against flooding. The other two have only started to plan for the future threat.

Background: Today, the environment of a company is characterized by quick changes like leaps of technology and market shifts. The problem is how this turbulent environment and an uncertain future affect how a company creates strategies and how its structure is adapted. Can a certain choice of strategies or a certain structure be a way of dealing with an changing environment? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore if and how Banverket Telenät, as an example of a company in a turbulent business like the Swedish telecom industry, tries to deal with an uncertain future through strategy and structure. Procedure: We have carried through a qualitative case study with interviews and gathering of additional information concerning the business.

AimThe aim of the study is to examine how future teachers of Physical Education view the subject, the occupation and their attitudes about the future and create an understanding about this through these research questions:In what way do the teacher students justify the subject Physical Education?How do teacher students view the future of the subject and the occupation?According to the teacher students, what and whom affect the subject? Is there a difference between the teacher students?views and attitudes depending on if they are currently in their second or last year of their education?MethodThis study use qualitative methods in order to create a deeper understanding for the participants? views and attitudes. Eight teacher students of Physical Education were interviewed. The interviews were between 27-57 minutes. They were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed from a socio-cultural perspective as well as Bernstein?s theory of classification.ResultThe participants justify the subject in words such as that it gives the students? knowledge about how to uphold a decent standard of living and an understanding for the correlation between physical activity, nutrition, health and wellbeing.

The municipality of Enköping is presently working out a new layout plan for the town of Enköping and new residences are planned in the harbour area. Because of these plans, the municipal energy company ENA Energi may have to move its location from the harbour to another part of the city.The aim of this degree project is to investigate the possibility of building a new CHP plant in another area of Enköping. The future demand on district heating and infrastructure at the new location have been projected. A new CHP plant has been dimensioned and economic analyses concerning the project have been made.Results show that the future demand of district heating in Enköping will differ a little from the present needs. In 2030, the district heating production is expected to be c.