Studies indicate that between 6-9% of all children has some type of voice problems. Voice problems in children may have different etiology and can affect all ages. In Sweden, there is a lack of a standardized questionnaire addressed to children with voice problems and their legal guardians. The purpose of this study was to translate and validate the Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI) in Swedish children aged 6 to 10 years. The study was carried out through an internet-based assessment form for children referred to speech and language pathologist/ phoniatrican due to voice disorders in Sweden and a matched control group of children without voice problems.

To this day, battery of women is a global problem. The aim of this paper is to examine this problem in the country that is considered to be one of the most equal countries in the world, namely Sweden. How big a problem is it, what is the social outlook of the victim and how does the Swedish justice system respond to this issue? These are some of the questions that will help to form an answer to the question if Sweden is a sanctuary for femalebatterers.Due to the resistance of implementing the entire penalty scale and the use of judicial methods, such as restraining orders and its effect on the women, the conclusion drawn from the answers is yes - Sweden is that sanctuary. The Swedish justice system is not tough enough when it comes to the abuse of women.

According to the EC fuel regulations 2 % bio fuel has to be blended in all fuel by the year 2005, and 5.75 % by the year 2010, which means ethanol for gasoline driven vehicles, so there will be a substantial demand for ethanol. Brazil already has an established industry for producing ethanol and is the leading producer and exporter of fuel ethanol. My purpose with this paper is to investigate why Brazil decided to develop ethanol production on a large-scale operation and to find out today?s situation. Focus will mainly be on ethanol production with sugarcane as a feedstock.

The purpose of this report is to examine various roof structures that can operate in a warehouse with large spans. The building that is examined in the report is currently under construction, and the roof construction has already been selected. The selected roof system will therefore be compared with some other structures and materials that have been possible. The report will evaluate three different frame materials, two insulating barriers and two overlaying materials. Another important part in major construction projects is the roof safety.

Stockholm has in recent years experienced a strong population increase but despite that fact, the demand for housing has not been followed by enough housing contracts. According to forecasts, growth in population will further be continued upward. With more condominiums than rental units on the market, new apartments are too expensive to live in. This creates unsustainable problems for those in lower classes of society. Creating a housing market in the periphery of Stockholm is not sustainable from a social perspective.

Phenylbutazone has been discussed in the world of the equestrian sport several times and different countries have diverse opinions on its use in competitions. The progressive list that permits phenylbutazone with plasma levels up to 8 µg/ml was presented at the FEI General Assembly in November 2009. The list was voted to be accepted, but later several countries realized the consequences and after protests the list was rejected and is going to be discussed again at the FEI General Assembly 2010. In this literature study I have studied the relationship between the concentrations of phenylbutazone in plasma and the effects on lameness. The purpose was to establish whether the limit of 8 µg/ml phenylbutazone in plasma affects the equestrian sport.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur behandlare upplever högkänslighet hosungdomar med psykosocial problematik. För att få en vidare förståelse förhögkänslighet ville vi även se hur personer med högkänslighet upplever sittkaraktärsdrag. Detta ville vi undersöka utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Studien baserades påtotalt tolv kvalitativa intervjuer varav åtta behandlare inom Hem för vård eller boendeoch Familjehem, samt fyra medlemmar från Sveriges Förening för Högkänsliga.Högkänslighet är ett karaktärsdrag hos 15-20 procent av befolkningen. Detta innebär attman är extra känslig för sinnesintryck och bearbetar dessa mer noggrant.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a technology that utilizes the temperaturedifference in oceans between the warm surface water and the cold water at 1000 m depthto produce electricity. The purpose of this report is to investigate if OTEC with its synergiescould become a commercially feasible energy solution for a small island. A literature reviewis conducted to explore the different OTEC technologies and to what extent the threesynergies; fresh water, air conditioning and aquaculture, could be used. In order to calculatethe profitability of these synergies there is also a study conducted on the conventionalmethods and cost of fresh water production, aquaculture and air conditioning. A model is setup using a scenario of a small tropical Island with population of 100 000 people.

Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients? quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her ??wishes.

This thesis aims on adding another piece to the puzzle that is the supplier relationship research. Taking its base in a series of articles regarding the transformations of global supply chains into more long-term profitable ones. Two research questions are presented, one regarding long-term supplier relationships and one regarding the main criteria?s while evaluating new suppliers. With an emphasis on the long-term relationship and profitability are five medium sized Swedish manu-facturers examined through semi-structured interviews.

In this thesis we study the development of post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) in the Swedish equity market from 2000 to 2009. By forming portfolios based on the stock price reaction to quarterly reporting we show that the characteristics of PEAD have changed. We demonstrate that negatively surprising companies show a positive drift during a holding period of six months sufficiently large to render the trading strategy unprofitable. This development holds from 2005 and onwards and these results contradict many a study which finds the same portfolio construction to be indeed profitable. We argue that this development is a trend that will not only affect our study but future studies as well..

This paper studies the option market?s implied dividend as a predictor of future equity market returns. We introduce this variable in the simple total return framework and discuss some complications of using it as a proxy for the expected dividend. We construct some regressions using the price-dividend ratio and the implied dividend growth, and test them on six years worth of data on the EURO STOXX 50-index. The main result is that implied dividend growth exhibits some forecastability over two-year horizons, but that the dataset is too short to draw any definitive conclusions about long-horizon forecastability.

Background: Hepatitis E (HEV) is a small, non-enveloped virus that belongs to the viral genus Hepevirus. HEV is a positive sense single-stranded RNA virus and there is insufficient information regarding its replication. This is mainly because the virus has low capacity to grow in normally used cell cultures. Many specific strand assay detection studies have been done in order to understand more about HEV replication. Unfortunately, these assays have the disadvantage of giving false positive results.Aim: The aim of this project was to improve the positive strand assay to increase specificity and eliminate false positivity which is due to high sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

This thesis studies the stock price reaction around 68 announcements of special dividends and share redemptions on the Swedish stock market between the years of 2003 and 2007. We show that for the Swedish private investor, the tax effect of a share redemption is lower than that of a special dividend. Moreover, a share redemption could be interpreted as a signal of undervaluation. These two factors lead us to assume that the stock market would react more positively in connection to the announcement of a share redemption. We test this hypothesis through an analysis of the risk-adjusted abnormal return for the observations in the sample.

This study was conducted on behalf of SCA forest AB, Västerbottens forest administration. Timber procurement from non-industrial private forest owners has become an increasingly important part of SCA:s wood supply. The objectives of this study was to report the current forest conditions in the private forests in the county of Västerbotten, analyse the potential for procurement of wood from private forest owners, and provide a basis for decisions on future strategies for timber procurement from private owners.Material and data have been collected from different sources, mainly from Swedish National Forest Inventory and SKA-VB08. This material was the basis for the analysis and calculations performed with the Heureka application PlanWise. This study area was divided into six different analytical areas (Coastal south, Coastal middle, Lycksele, Inland south, Inland north, Skellefteå), where each area of analysis is represented by a number of municipalities.In this study, two scenarios were specified; one describing the current forest management with current harvesting levels and the effects of these assumptions, the second to illuminate what potential there is for future timber harvesting.