The purpose of this study was to develop two types of prediction models for Scots Pine and Norway Spruce. The first type for calculation of the stump diameter under bark the year the tree reached breast height (Dstubh130). The second type for calculation of the annual difference, e.g. the number of growth years between stump height (0.2 m) and breast height (1.3 meters above ground level). The primary thought with these prediction models is to obtain the breast height age in the trees on basis of the number of annual rings at stump.

Sweden have 419 000 km road in the country and about half of these roads is forestroads. The forest road net most important mission is to make it possible to deliver wood from the forest to the industries. With a raw material that is spread over a large area the road network is important. Each year has the forest road network been extended with about 1 700 km new roads. To decide if a new road is to be built different forest road cost estimation models has been used.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the two new phenomena; the pricing model Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) and the launch of daily newspapers in the iPad. A quantitative study was conducted in order to examine what would happen if the PWYW-model where to be used by a daily newspaper for its iPad product, and what this would signal to consumers about the brand in terms of brand association and brand attitude. Furthermore, we have investigated which of these factors that are affecting willingness to pay in this PWYW-situation. Moreover, a secondary purpose was to test the two possible presentations of the digital newspaper in the iPad; Product and Access ? and how the results differed between these two.

The forecast ability of four well-known exchange rate models for theSwedish krona is tested in this thesis. The models that are tested arethe purchase power parity, the real interest differential model, thesticky-price model and a productivity model. In addition to thebenchmark, the random walk, they are also compared to each other.They are all tested on three different horizons one quarter, two quartersand four quarters. The mean squared forecast error criteria and thedirection of change criteria are used for evaluation of the forecastability. Only in a couple of cases are the forecast ability of thetheoretical based models significant better than the random walk..

Wind power is a growing energy sector in Sweden. However, it still represents only a small part of the total electricity production, about 0.7%. In order to create good conditions and to facilitate the establishment of wind power in Sweden, the government has for example, created a national centre for wind use. The objective has been to reach the governmental goal, which is an expansion of wind power by 10 TWh by year 2015 compared to the level in 2002. The Swedish electricity market was deregulated in 1996 which refers to the introduction of a competitive market in electricity production and trade.

This thesis explores some issues regarding estimations of the cost of capital on the Stockholm Stock Exchange through reverse engineering of the Residual Income Valuation model and through usage of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Previous studies are in conflict of whether the risk premium changes considerably over time or not. Furthermore, the risk premium estimated by CAPM tends to be fairly stable. In this study, reverse engineering of the cost of capital implied by analysts? forecasts shows a significant difference in the risk premium over time.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to show models from the literature which can underlie appraisal and development in the real estate business of Gavlegårdarna.1. Gavlegårdarna should be able to use the study in their work with quality assurance off their services.2. Company?s in real estate business and other students should be able to use the study for an overview of quality models.Method: To collect data I chose to use a qualitative method based on the hermeneutic research method. The collected data was a result of literature and interviews.Result & Conclusion: From the literature there are two models that are suited for analyses of quality, that is the Housing quality model and the Gap model.

Social policy has now received an increased attention in the European Union. The European welfare states experience a high level of unemployment, which the EU now tries to handle through the European Employment Strategy (EES). The core of this essay is whether the welfare institutions of the European member states are integrating through an institutionalization process or not. Within the EU four different types of welfare models can be identified: the Scandinavian, the Continental, the Southern and the Anglo-Saxon. The welfare models differ in the institutional settings e.g.

A debate in finance is whether a random investment gives the same return as carefully choose and valuing an amount of shares to invest in. Stock valuating Stock valuation is often done by fundamental valuation models, based on the company's underlying character, which tries to put a correct price on the stock. Today there are several different valuation models that can be used for this purpose. Since valuation models are only mathematical, equity research is underpinned by more subjective assessments about the company and its future.The purpose with this thesis is to describe which valuation models that are used by professional stock analysts, but also to see if the reliability on the equity research is affected by the used model to valuing the company. Furthermore, we want to see if the job that?s been done to understand the company, measured by the equity research quality, impact the reliability on the equity research.In this thesis, we have, to achieve our purpose, conducted a quantitative content analysis of 164 equity research done by professional analysts at firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. With basis in previous research, we have developed a method for determining the valuation model that is used in the equity research, the reliability on the equity research and a framework for assessing the quality of the equity research.In the theoretical framework the valuation models involved in our study are described, previous research on the reliability on the equity research and their practical use.

Background: The international accounting standard regarding goodwill gives opportunities to several accounting procedure choices, as goodwill is a complex, intangible asset. The valuation of goodwill affects equity/asset ratio and income statement, which gives that the stakeholders? impression of the group?s financial statement is affected by the valuation of this asset. It has been pointed out that difficult economic times bring impairment loss to the fore. During financial crisis, equity/asset ratio may be significant as the economy of the groups is expected to be strained.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to explain the appearance of the possible relationship between a group?s impairment loss for goodwill and their equity/asset ratio, during financial straits.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relation between different kinds ofremedial teaching models, not specifically addressed to pupils with physicaldisabilities, in the Swedish school context, and to describe and analyze theobjectives related to each model. Research focus was held on professionaldescriptions of school related problems and arguments for different kind of models,but also on objectives formulated in Swedish school policy. As theoretical toolswere used discourse analysis and interpretive policy analysis. The concept ofalienation as it appears throughout Foucault?s work was also used to understand howdifferent knowledge fields as education, special education, psychology and medicinedivide themselves from each other.

Modelica is a multi-domain and equation-based modeling language. Modelica is based on object-oriented principles and non-causal modeling. The language is constructed to facilitate reuse and decompose models. The models and the modellibrary can modified to design a new nonlinear components.Object-oriented modeling is an excellent way to analyze and study large complex heterogeneous physical systems. The object-oriented modeling approach build on reusing and decomposition of models and non-causal modeling.Modeling physical systems often leads to a DAE system with index 2 or 3.

Transfer pricing including internal loans have increased in recent years, making it easier for companies to minimize their taxable income. After the Swedish court case Diligentia, there have been discussions regarding the influence of a parent company's transparency and control of the subsidiary with regards to the interest rates on internal loans. In court cases that followed Diligentia, the Swedish Tax Agency argued that a parent company always could be assumed to have sufficient transparency and control of the operations in the subsidiary, and therefore reduce the risk on their debt obligations. This thesis seeks to analyze the effects of the transparency and control a parent company has with regards to interest rates on internal loans. The analysis is conducted by analyzing court cases similar to Diligentia.

This thesis aims to analyse relations between the risk of Francisella in endemic areas and environmental variables. The thesis also discusses relations between occurrences of Tularemia and meteorological factors. The analysis resulted in several significant models that explained the occurrence of Francisella. These models can however only be applied to the year 2004 since there were too few test performed the other years, therefore no comparisons could be made. Another conclusion was that the relative humidity was significally higher in the year 2003, the same year as the occurrences of Tularemia was at its peak. .

At Forsmark nuclear power plant the rather old-fashioned software COPTA is used in containment safety analysis. There exists a desire within the organisation to introduce a more modern software with ability to more detailed modeling and increased usability.The goal of this thesis was to evaluate the software APROS in containment safety analysis. APROS models describing one of the containments at Forsmark NPP have been developed. Two simulations of typical containment incidents, one of them a large pipe break, have been made where containment safety parameters such as pressure and temperature are studied. Results are analyzed and verified against results from corresponding COPTA models.