Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, OTEC, a technology using the temperature difference between cold deep seawater and warm surface water, can extract the work in the form of electricity. OTEC gives also synergies of drinkable fresh water. The temperature difference has an impact on the efficiency of the technology, which means that the feasibility of OTEC is geographically limited. The project intends to explore the possibility of replacing the atoll Tarawa?s present electricity generation with an OTEC plant and to explore synergies. In the present situation all of Tarawa?s electricity is generated by fossil fuels.

This bachelor essay is divided into two parts, the first being a construction of a single-familyhouse and the second an in-depth study of five different isolation materials, analysed from anenergy perspective.The first part, the construction of the single-family house, has been created from knowledgeacquired during three years of studying at KTH Royal institute of Technology in Stockholm, inthe program Architecture and the Built Environment. The constructed house is a one-floorhouse of 137m2with façade plaster, situated in Borlänge, Sweden. The house has a wooden framewhich is built on a on sight cast concrete foundation, on the ground. The house?s roof is a gableroof, which has an angle of 24 degrees.

 Date                   May 28, 2009Level                  Bachelor thesis in Business Administration/Information TechnologyAuthors             Jennie Andersson, Niklas Fridell, Visar HoxhaTutor                  Marie MörndalDepartment    HSTTitle                    ERP-solutions in small to medium sized enterprises ? possibilities and problemsSummary          ERP-solutions have penetrated the market for SME: s, offering the same advantages larger enterprises have enjoyed for years. For a significantly cheaper Price, SME: s can nowadays acquire ERP-solutions and become more effective and increase their profit.  The authors have examined five SME: s in both the production and service company segment and have come to the conclusion that an ERP-solution would indeed benefit these companies in many levels but also induce certain obstacles the examined companies must overcome, both financial and organizational.Purpose            The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how SME: s can become more efficient and developed and increase their profit by implementing an ERP-solution. Further, the purpose is to discuss which conditions that exists for the examined SME: s in order to implement an ERP-solution.Method            The thesis consists of a qualitative research where the authors have interviewed either the owner or employees at management level by using semi-structured interviews.

Bakgrund: Den heliga fastemånaden Ramadan innebär stora omställningar i cirka en och en halv miljard muslimers liv. Detta har, med bakgrund i den effektiva marknadshypotesen, föranlett flera olika undersökningar av eventuellt återkommande prisavvikelser i samband med Ramadan, en så kallad Ramadaneffekt. Tidigare studier visar dock på något motstridiga resultat vilket gör att vidare forskning inom området är motiverad. De till viss del förändrade livsvillkor som Ramadan innebär har i tidigare studier använts som förklaringsvariabler, något som dock kan ifrågasättas och undersökas vidare med utgångspunkt i Behavioral finance.Syfte: Denna studie ämnar undersöka om det existerar någon Ramadaneffekt på 17 olika muslimska aktiemarknader samt att kritiskt granska tidigare studier inom området och förklaringsvärdet i fastans fysiska och psykiska påverkan vid en eventuell Ramadaneffekt.Genomförande: Studien är av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ karaktär med huvudsaklig tyngdpunkt i statistiska analyser av studiens datamaterial. Regressionsanalys med dummyvariabler utgör den statistiska metoden och resultatet analyseras genom att applicera Behavioral finance till dokumentstudien för att försöka förklara de statistiska resultaten.Slutsats: Studien finner att endast den pakistanska aktiemarknaden uppvisar en signifikant prisavvikelse under Ramadan.

GPS (Global Positioning system) and GIS (Geographical information system) has been used for planning and inventory in the forest sector for more than ten years. The last years the development has come to equip harvesters and forwarders with GPS and GIS (GIT). The goal with this study was to reach a basis for decision, how Stora Enso Skog should continue its investment in GPS and GIS in harvesters and forwarders. To reach this basis for decision, possible advantages and benefits, disadvantages and problems in the harvesting process was evaluated. The study was made as an interview study with four harvesting managers and ten machine teams. To secure the quality of the results an interview questionnaire was made before the interviews were done. The results showed that GIT will make the harvesting managers work easier.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, OTEC, a technology using the temperature difference between cold deep seawater and warm surface water, can extract the work in the form of electricity. OTEC gives also synergies of drinkable fresh water. The temperature difference has an impact on the efficiency of the technology, which means that the feasibility of OTEC is geographically limited. The project intends to explore the possibility of replacing the atoll Tarawa?s present electricity generation with an OTEC plant and to explore synergies. In the present situation all of Tarawa?s electricity is generated by fossil fuels.

It is important that organizations today focus on continuous improvements in order to face the growing competition in the world. A company needs a corporate culture that supports and encourages the employees to be creative and innovative in their work. This is necessary for the company if they are striving towards continuous learning and development within their organization.The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how the culture differences between Sweden and China affect Sandvik AB. We will also study how the company manages continuous improvements and what consequences culture differences have on their work.Our paper is a single case study at Sandvik AB in Sweden and China. We have visited Sandvik in Sandviken to conduct a series of interviews with employees of different position within the company and with dissimilar work tasks.

Reinforcement is of great importance to fulfill the dimensioned strength of a concrete construction. This requires that the work needs to be carried out with adequate results that neither endangers the workers or the safety of the construction. Progressive development of the planning phase, construction documents, and construction methods is in constant need since the technology constantly evolves.In order for contractors to be able to get acceptances from their quotations requires that they have to increase their working pace in order to be able to leave a quotation with a lower Price than the competition.Due to the increasing pace the different parts involved in the construction process is subjected to time pressure. The design stage, construction documents, work preparation and the execution are all affected when everything has to be finished quickly. To avoid problems, it is required that all parts are able to deliver good quality solutions and results under the influences of time pressure, which is not always easy.

Background: Critical conditions to become an attractive supplier of knowledge based IT-services in the B2B market are many. Besides the fact of supplying a service of high quality one must as a supplier communicate values which are understandable and desirable for a new buyer. Buying a knowledge based IT-service involves several risks; the consultant might not have sufficient knowledge or have difficulties understanding the corporate culture and collaborating with other staff within the client?s organization. Since services are intangible offers and it can be intricate to put right Price level for something which can only be evaluated when the project is finished, puts severe strain on suppliers competing with other companies in the same market when looking for new clients.

The lifecycle of fashion products get shorter and shorter. Companies in the fashion business needto make sure that they can offer their customers the right products, in the right quantity at theexact right time. The competition on the fashion market today is tough and if companies aregoing to be successful they need to have access to the most reliable suppliers, and also offer theircustomers products with high quality to attractive Prices. It is therefore of highest importance toevaluate and choose the right sourcing strategy. Product category and type of organisation aresome of the factors that will determine which strategy that is most appropriate.

Financial bubbles are characterized by a large increase in the economic growth on the market as a whole or in specific industries. The change gives rise to an increase in the capital needed to finance this growth. Companies typically have a choice between equity and debt capital to finance its business and the mix of these types of capital is often referred to as the company?s capital structure. There has been a lot of research done in the field of financial bubbles and ofcapital structure, as of yet no studies seem to address these two areas in combination.The aim of this study is to examine if financial bubbles affect a company?s capital structure and through this also examine if the supposed changes in capital structure can be generalized.The study comprise of two identical time-series which examines the changes in leverage and the choice of financing during the Swedish real estate bubble in the early nineties and the IT-crash at the end of the 2000th century.

Financial bubbles are characterized by a large increase in the economic growth on the market as a whole or in specific industries. The change gives rise to an increase in the capital needed to finance this growth. Companies typically have a choice between equity and debt capital to finance its business and the mix of these types of capital is often referred to as the company?s capital structure. There has been a lot of research done in the field of financial bubbles and ofcapital structure, as of yet no studies seem to address these two areas in combination.The aim of this study is to examine if financial bubbles affect a company?s capital structure and through this also examine if the supposed changes in capital structure can be generalized.The study comprise of two identical time-series which examines the changes in leverage and the choice of financing during the Swedish real estate bubble in the early nineties and the IT-crash at the end of the 2000th century.

Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today?s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business.Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: ?To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded? The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies.

Återvinningsstation Holkesmossen ligger cirka två kilometer öster om Hagfors i Värmland. Deponiverksamhet påbörjades på platsen under 1960-talet, och fortsätter fortfarande.Tidigare forskningsprojekt vid Luleå tekniska universitet har, tillsammans med Hagfors kommun och Uddeholms AB, tagit fram en design för sluttäckningen av avfallsdeponin. I denna lösning används restprodukter ifrån det lokala stålverket tillsammans med konventionella jordar.Delar av deponin började sluttäckas år 2005. I dagsläget pågår sluttäckning av deponins norra slänt. Arbetet utförs etappvis och i takt med att de slaggmaterial som används till tätskiktet har producerats och finns tillgängliga.I denna rapport har släntstabiliteten för sluttäckningen utvärderats.

The economic situation in the Swedish agricultural industry is currently experiencing a development towards larger units. This progress occurs simultaneously as farmers in cooperation more frequently make investments to decrease risk exposure and to improve the financial result. The purpose with this thesis is to study which advantages and problems a group of farmers experience after a common investment in a small-scale seed production. The aim with this investment is to increase the level of vertical integration in their respective agricultural firms and the results will be analyzed from an economic point of view. At present, the farmers are all seed producers with considerable cultivation areas.